Designing text representations for existing data using the TextFormats Specification Language
Giorgio Gonnella

TL;DR
This paper analyzes the syntax of the TextFormats Specification Language to facilitate creating text representations of existing data, providing systematic examples and usage advice for scalar and compound data types.
Contribution
It systematically explores and documents the syntax options in TFSL for representing various data types, aiding users in designing text formats for existing data.
Findings
Systematic analysis of TFSL syntax for scalar types
Guidelines for representing compound data structures
Examples illustrating different data representation strategies
Abstract
TextFormats is a software system for efficient and user-friendly creation of text format specifications, accessible from multiple programming languages (C/C++, Python, Nim) and the Unix command line. To work with a format, a specification written in the TextFormats Specification Language (TFSL) must be created. The specification defines datatypes for each part of the format. The syntax for datatype definitions in TextFormats specifications is based on the text representation. Thus this system is well suited for the description of existing formats. However, when creating a new text format for representing existing data, the user may use different possible definitions, based on the type of value and the representation choices. This study explores the possible definition syntax in the TextFormats Specification Language to be used for creating text representations of scalar values (e.g.…
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Taxonomy
TopicsModel-Driven Software Engineering Techniques
