Exactly why do we need mark up for data distribution?

[Zecherieh]

And I can read the first in my brower and the second requires yet another application.

The first I can load, press CTRL-F and find what I want. No problem.

The second, I have to load into Excel, format so it is readable, then search for what I want. Then what happens if the person doesn't have a spreadsheet program?

.. but is it really useful - in either format - this way ?

Not to me. I could not see any user being able to utilize, or even having a desire to utilize this data this way. Its just a delivery method - for us then to re organize, reformat - and display in a way that our users can use it and find it useful.

[Wayne Luke]

.. but is it really useful - in either format - this way ?

Not to me. I could not see any user being able to utilize, or even having a desire to utilize this data this way. Its just a delivery method - for us then to re organize, reformat - and display in a way that our users can use it and find it useful.

For this specific data feed, yes.

If I was looking for a quick line to place a bet on upcoming games, yes it is useful. I don't need to store and manipulate the data because it will be obsolete next week when the teams play different games.

That is what newsfeeds are for: Quick up to the minute information that can be discarded as soon as it is used. Long term storage and formatting of newsfeeds is not needed. Once it scrolls off the screen it isn't needed anymore.

[Zecherieh]

For this specific data feed, yes.

If I was looking for a quick line to place a bet on upcoming games, yes it is useful. I don't need to store and manipulate the data because it will be obsolete next week when the teams play different games.

That is what newsfeeds are for: Quick up to the minute information that can be discarded as soon as it is used. Long term storage and formatting of newsfeeds is not needed. Once it scrolls off the screen it isn't needed anymore.

Except one thing - in my world - that data is much more useful now - then it was the week of the game (that data is the entire NCAA Season by the way)

And that data is not even going to be available from that source until the week is complete and in the books - and you can not place a bet on that line. (yes - I live in a strange world.)

[Mike Sullivan]

This is a perfect example - since they have both

http://www.repole.com/sun4cast/stats/ncaa2005lines.xml = 136K

http://www.repole.com/sun4cast/stats/ncaa2005lines.csv = 29K

Same exact Data

To be technical, this is not the exact same data. Data stored by the XML that the CSV doesn't store:

• League Name
• Year (possible to infer in this case, though not so much if it's a partial set and a season that spans the year end)
• Season Type
• Team Number (useless, but they included it)
• Additional game info ("@ Reliant Stadium")

Trying to fit all of those pieces of data into the same CSV file would not work (the first 3 at least). Also worth noting that this XML file has more markup than is necessary.

Regarding your original question, XML is much more suited to complex data, as mentioned. CSV cannot easily represent multiple data formats in one file. Especially when dealing with 1:N relationships, which XML excels at. You could store the an entire forum-thread-post tree in an XML file without relying on an ID number.

Compared to a serialized array, it's much easier to edit and read anyway. Editing serialized stuff manually is not fun, and reading it isn't either. From a parsing perspective, XML can be parsed without slurping the entire thing into memory if desired.

[Wayne Luke]

Then you are lucky they provided a format that you can use. Even with that, I can import the XML into Excel, Word, or any other application and format it as a table quickly and easily. Try importing your CSV into Word and formatting it easily.

Obviously you care about bandwidth and the CSV fits your needs so that is what you are going to use. Most people don't care what format the data is delivered in as long as they can view it and they certainly don't care how much bandwidth it is taking up from the server.

[harmor]

You can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink.