Understanding the data formats used in data science applications

When we discuss data formats, we are referring to content format, as opposed to the underlying file format, which may not even be visible to most developers. We cannot examine all available formats due to the vast number of formats available. Instead, we will tackle several of the more common formats, providing adequate examples to address the most common data retrieval needs. Specifically, we will demonstrate how to retrieve data stored in the following formats:

• HTML
• PDF
• CSV/TSV
• Spreadsheets
• Databases
• JSON
• XML

Some of these formats are well supported and documented elsewhere. For example, XML has been in use for years and there are several well-established techniques for accessing XML data in Java. For these types of data, we will outline the major techniques available and show a few examples to illustrate how they work. This will provide those readers who are not familiar with the technology some insight into their nature.

 

The most...