XML vs comma delimited text files

Question

Ok, I\'ve read a couple books on XML and wrote programs to spit it out and what not. But here\'s the question. Both a comma delimited file and a XML file are \"human readable.

Answer 1

Well XML is human readable and human editable. You can look at an XML file and know exactly what it is. A CSV file is human readable but you don't really know what each value means at all.

For example, if we're storing user accounts, which would you prefer?

    ryeguy
    abc123
    3-4-08
    my@email.com

OR

ryeguy,abc123,3-4-08,my@email.com

Of course, this is just an example, but imagine it with 30 fields or so!

Or worse yet, what if we make subfields?

    ryeguy
    abc123
    3-4-08
    my@email.com
    
        
            34
            ....
        
    

That would be a pain in the ass to put in a CSV. Soon you'd be making your own querying language.