Here is a list of some of the things CaveXML needs. Some may be mutually
exclusive.
1 It must be permitted to include information that not all programs can,
or wish to, understand.
2 It must be possible - preferably easier than the alternative - to
preserve all information (including information the converter does not
understand) through a round trip to/from another format. If this could
be done even if the file was edited in the other format, that would be a
Good Thing.
3 It should be possible to include enough information in a file to allow
a round trip from/to another format, reproducing the original exactly.
Conversion programs don't have to do that, but it should be possible.
For some formats, this may be impossibly hard.
4 It must be possible to include enough information to reproduce the
survey notebooks, at least in all meaningful respects (mud stains may be
excluded).
5 It should be possible to exclude any information from a file that is
not needed for the task at hand.
6 There should be a standard way to record any information that is
common to at least two programs.
7 There should be no absolute dependence on details of the survey, or
data reduction, process (e.g. station naming conventions).
8 The format should be as simple as possible.
9 There must be no ambiguity in any data. Any information that is
required for processing, or interpreting, the data must be included.
10 The core of the format, that all programs must understand, should be
as small as possible.
I'm sure there are more. Does anyone disagree that these are reasonable
goals?
Ralph Hartley
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon Apr 02 2001 - 18:00:00 CEST