Communicating with the outside world
Important context
- interactive, human user?
- quick and dirty?
- need for speed?
- rigid specification?
The options
Spend 15-20 minutes researching one of the following topics (to be assigned). Write down your answers and be prepared to tell the class what you found.
- What are standard out and standard error? What’s the difference, and how do you write to them on the command line and in [your language here].
- What is a markup language, and what are some examples? What advantages and disadvantages do markup languages have over simple text?
- In your own words, what is database normalization? What’s the point?
- Choose a specialized file format, explain when it should be used, and what advantage it has over plain text.
Parsers
- existing, established
- making your own (use the standard, write tests, be fastidious)
