> Csv is not standardized and the quoting rules are weird (and not standardized)
There is almost always some normalisation ("scrubbing") needed to prep a CSV. But CSV is viable and awk can rip through massive amounts of data. It is a brilliant and powerful tool.
> It's small enough to fit in your brain, unlike Perl
Perl is also brilliant and powerful. Setting aside the bigotry of people who dislike sigils and using braces for scope, many people who fail to learn Perl well have not tried to use Perl-OOP objects as primitives. Once you do this, Perl's versatility and speed are hard to beat.
I suffered with Perl until I stopped assuming I could learn it by reading code, and read the Camel book. At about page 85 it says something approximating: "Everything in Perl happens in a context (scalar or Array) and until you realize that, you will be miserable." It still didn't come easy: I've realized we all have different minds. My mind doesn't find Perl natural, but loves Ruby. YMMV.
There is almost always some normalisation ("scrubbing") needed to prep a CSV. But CSV is viable and awk can rip through massive amounts of data. It is a brilliant and powerful tool.
> It's small enough to fit in your brain, unlike Perl
Perl is also brilliant and powerful. Setting aside the bigotry of people who dislike sigils and using braces for scope, many people who fail to learn Perl well have not tried to use Perl-OOP objects as primitives. Once you do this, Perl's versatility and speed are hard to beat.