[ANN] FasterCSV 1.0.0 -- The "Sorry it's late, Ara" release!

[James Edward Gray II]

FasterCSV 1.0.0 Released
========================

Ara strikes again, adding his second awesome enhancement to
FasterCSV. Here's some example code showing off FasterCSV::Table:

#!/usr/local/bin/ruby -w

# csv_table.rb
#
# Created by James Edward Gray II on 2006-11-04.
# Copyright 2006 Gray Productions. All rights reserved.
#
# Feature implementation and example code by Ara.T.Howard.

require "faster_csv"

table = FCSV.parse(DATA, :headers => true, :header_converters
=> :symbol)

# row access
table[0].class # => FasterCSV::Row
table[0].fields # => ["zaphod", "beeblebrox", "42"]

# column access
table[:first_name] # => ["zaphod", "ara"]

# cell access
table[1][0] # => "ara"
table[1][:first_name] # => "ara"
table[:first_name][1] # => "ara"

# manipulation
table << %w[james gray 30]
table[-1].fields # => ["james", "gray", "30"]

table[:type] = "name"
table[:type] # => ["name", "name", "name"]

table[:ssn] = %w[123-456-7890 098-765-4321]
table[:ssn] # => ["123-456-7890", "098-765-4321", nil]

# iteration
table.each do |row|
# ...
end

table.by_col!
table.each do |col_name, col_values|
# ...
end

# output
puts table
# >> first_name,last_name,age,type,ssn
# >> zaphod,beeblebrox,42,name,123-456-7890
# >> ara,howard,34,name,098-765-4321
# >> james,gray,30,name,

__END__
first_name,last_name,age
zaphod,beeblebrox,42
ara,howard,34

Thank you Ara!

What is FasterCSV?
------------------

(from the README)

FasterCSV is intended as a replacement to Ruby's standard CSV library.
It was designed to address concerns users of that library had and it has
three primary goals:

1. Be significantly faster than CSV while remaining a pure Ruby
library.
2. Use a smaller and easier to maintain code base. (FasterCSV is
larger now,
but considerably richer in features. The parsing core remains
quite small.)
3. Improve on the CSV interface.

What's New?
-----------

(highlights from the CHANGELOG)

* The slurping methods now return the new FasterCSV::Table objects.
* Fixed parser so multibyte :col_sep works now.
* Fixed FasterCSV.rewind() to reset the FasterCSV.lineno() counter.
* Fixed FasterCSV.rewind() to reset the header processing.
* Enhanced FasterCSV::Row.fields() to support Ranges, even for headers.
* Added a few examples for usage.

Migrating from CSV to FasterCSV?
--------------------------------

The README includes a section on the differences and you can read that
here:

http://fastercsv.rubyforge.org/

You call also see general usage in the documentation of the interface,
right here:

http://fastercsv.rubyforge.org/classes/FasterCSV.html

For quick and dirty switching, try:

begin
require "faster_csv"
FasterCSV.build_csv_interface
rescue LoadError
require "csv"
end
# ... use CSV here ...

If FasterCSV isn't meeting your needs, I want to here about it:

ja...@grayproductions.net

Where can I learn more?
-----------------------

FasterCSV is hosted on RubyForge.

Project page: http://rubyforge.org/projects/fastercsv/
Documentation: http://fastercsv.rubyforge.org/
Downloads: http://rubyforge.org/frs/?group_id=1102

How do I get FasterCSV?
-----------------------

FasterCSV is a gem, so as long as you have RubyGems installed it's as
simple as:

$ sudo gem install fastercsv

If you need to install RubyGems, you can download it from:

http://rubyforge.org/frs/?group_id=126&release_id=5803

FasterCSV can also be installed manually. Just download the latest
release and follow the instructions in INSTALL:

http://rubyforge.org/frs/?group_id=1102&release_id=7740

James Edward Gray II

[ara.t....@noaa.gov]

On Mon, 6 Nov 2006, James Edward Gray II wrote:

> FasterCSV 1.0.0 Released
> ========================
>
> Ara strikes again, adding his second awesome enhancement to FasterCSV.
> Here's some example code showing off FasterCSV::Table:

rock on james! thanks for letting this into the wild.

kind regards.

-a
--
my religion is very simple. my religion is kindness. -- the dalai lama

[Gregory Brown]

On 11/5/06, James Edward Gray II <ja...@grayproductions.net> wrote:
> FasterCSV 1.0.0 Released
> ========================
>
> Ara strikes again, adding his second awesome enhancement to
> FasterCSV. Here's some example code showing off FasterCSV::Table:

Congrats on a 1.0 release James! Great work. And Ara, your additions rock.