Designing text representations for existing data using the TextFormats Specification Language

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. string, numeric value, boolean) and compound data structures (e.g. array, mapping). The results of the analysis are presented systematically, together with examples for each each type of different values that can be represented, and usage advices.