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Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2015 08:16:14 -0800
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Subject: Re: [geda-user] shortest way towards parsing .pcb files outside pcb
From: "Britton Kerin (britton DOT kerin AT gmail DOT com) [via geda-user AT delorie DOT com]" <geda-user AT delorie DOT com>
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On Sat, Sep 12, 2015 at 2:42 PM, Lev (leventelist AT gmail DOT com) [via
geda-user AT delorie DOT com] <geda-user AT delorie DOT com> wrote:
> On Sat, 12 Sep 2015 18:23:43 -0400
> DJ Delorie <dj AT delorie DOT com> wrote:
>
>> Another option here is to switch to a file format that's already
>> supported by lots of other languages, like XML or YAML.  Then the
>> remaining work breaks down into:
>>
>> * Deciding on a schema for the data
>>
>> * converting pcb to read/write that schema
>>
>> Scripts wouldn't *need* to use pcb's parser, they could use any old
>> parser library, since the scripts already know what the parts of the
>> schema they're interested in look like.  Read file, fiddle with the
>> parts you know, write file leaving everything else intact.
>
> Yes! Exactly my dream!

Yes this would be better.  I think YAML is a really good choice.  Its
more human-readable and more expressive than JSON and there's an
interface for every language.  I would start with a 1-1 mapping to the
existing format, to avoid changing multiple things at once and make
backward compatibility easy to maintain.  With this approach, deciding
on a schema would really just mean picking names for any unnamed
fields that we decide should have names.

To the people who want a binary database format: I can see the
attractions.  Having the fastest possible parser could be a
significant advantage in some situations.  However, I think it's safe
to say it will be a show-stopper for existing power users not
well-versed in SQL.

This is something I would be happy to start working on if there's any
sort of consensus.