NAME
TableData - Specification for TableData::*, modules that contains table
data
SPECIFICATION VERSION
0.2
VERSION
This document describes version 0.2.6 of TableData (from Perl
distribution TableData), released on 2023-11-25.
SYNOPSIS
Use one of the "TableData::*" modules.
DESCRIPTION
NOTE: EARLY SPECIFICATION; THINGS WILL STILL CHANGE A LOT.
"TableData::*" modules are modules that contain two-dimensional table
data. The table can be accessed via a standard interface (see
TableDataRole::Spec::Basic). An example of table data would be list of
countries along with their names and country code, or a list of CPAN
authors along with their published email addresses.
Why put data in a Perl module, as a Perl distribution? To leverage the
Perl/CPAN toolchain and infrastructure: 1) ease of installation, update,
and uninstallation; 2) allowing dependency expression and version
comparison; 3) ease of packaging further as OS packages, e.g. Debian
packages (converted from Perl distribution); 4) testing by CPAN Testers.
The table data can actually be stored as CSV in the DATA section of a
Perl module, or as a CSV file in a shared directory of a Perl
distribution, or a Perl structure in the module source code, or from
other sources.
The standard interface provides a convenient and consistent way to
access the data, from accessing the rows, getting the column names, and
dumping to CSV or Perl structure for other tools to operate on.
To get started, see TableDataRole::Spec::Basic and one of existing
"TableData::*" module.
NAMESPACE ORGANIZATION
TableData
"TableData" (this module) is the specification.
All the modules under "TableData::*" are modules with actual table data.
The entity mentioned in the module name should be singular, not plural
(e.g. "TableData::Person::AcmeInc" instead of
"TableData::Persons::AcmeInc" or "TableData::People::AcmeInc".
More specific subnamespaces for more specific types of table data are
described in entries below.
TableData::Calendar::*
For calendar-related data.
TableData::Calendar::Date::*
For table containing calendar dates.
Examples:
"TableData::Calendar::Date::Holiday::ID" contains holiday dates for
Indonesia.
"TableData::Calendar::Date::Holiday::AU::TAS" contains holiday dates for
Tasmania, Australia.
TableData::Lingua::*
For human-language-related data.
TableData::Lingua::Dict::*
For dictionaries.
For monolingual language dictionaries, a 2-letter ISO language code
should be added as subnamespace prefix. For bilingual dictionaries, a
"LANGCODE1_LANGCODE2" should be added as subnamespace prefix.
All "TableData::Lingua::Dict::*" modules should contain the columns
"entry" and "description".
Examples: TableData::Lingua::Dict::Foldoc,
TableData::Lingua::Dict::ID::KBBI,
TableData::Lingua::Dict::ZH::Proverb::StarDict,
TableData::Lingua::Dict::FR_EN::FreeDict.
TableData::Lingua::Word::*
For tables that contain word list. This is now preferred namespace to
WordList, and an alternative for "ArrayData::Lingua::Word::" namespace.
All "TableData::Lingua::Word::*" modules should contain the column
"word" so they are usable from applications like word games.
A 2-letter ISO language code should be added as subnamespace prefix
whenever applicable.
Example: TableData::Lingua::Word::EN::Adjective::TalkEnglish (list of
top adjectives from talkenglish.com website, along with some other data
like frequency).
TableData::Locale::*
For locale-related data.
Examples: "TableData::Locale::Country" (list of countries in the world),
TableData::Locale::US::State (list of US states),
"TableData::Locale::ID::Province" (list of Indonesian provinces).
TableDataRole::*
The roles.
TableDataRoles::*
"TableDataRoles::*" are names for distributions that contains several
role modules.
TableDataBase::*
For base classes.
TableDataBases::*
"TableDataBases::*" are names for distributions that contain several
"TableDataBase" modules.
TableDataBundle::*
"TableDataBundle::*" are names for distributions that contain several
"TableData" modules. The subnamespaces can follow that of "TableData".
Examples: TableDataBundle::Perl::CPAN::Release which contains
TableData::Perl::CPAN::Release::Static and
TableData::Perl::CPAN::Release::Static::FromNewest.
TableDataBundle::Software::License which contains
TableData::Software::License::FromRPL and
TableData::Software::License::FromSL.
RELATED NAMESPACES
Data::TableData::*
Modules that contain code to work with table data (not necessarily table
data in "TableData::" modules).
FAQ
How do I pick random row(s) from a table?
Apply one of the appropriate
"Role::TinyCommons::Collection::PickItems::*" roles, e.g.
Role::TinyCommons::Collection::PickItems::Iterator (which can always be
used, but other role might offer some speedup). This will provide you
the "pick_item" and "pick_items" methods. For example, to select a
random quoute from TableData::Quote::JamesFT:
use Role::Tiny;
use TableData::Quote::JamesFT;
my $td = TableData::Quote::JamesFT->new;
Role::Tiny->apply_roles_to_object($td, 'Role::TinyCommons::Collection::PickItems::Iterator');
my $row = $td->pick_item;
HOMEPAGE
Please visit the project's homepage at
<https://metacpan.org/release/TableData>.
SOURCE
Source repository is at <https://github.com/perlancar/perl-TableData>.
SEE ALSO
ArrayData, HashData are related projects.
WordList is an older, related project.
Modules and CLIs that manipulate table data: Data::TableData::Object, td
(from App::td).
AUTHOR
perlancar <perlancar@cpan.org>
CONTRIBUTING
To contribute, you can send patches by email/via RT, or send pull
requests on GitHub.
Most of the time, you don't need to build the distribution yourself. You
can simply modify the code, then test via:
% prove -l
If you want to build the distribution (e.g. to try to install it locally
on your system), you can install Dist::Zilla,
Dist::Zilla::PluginBundle::Author::PERLANCAR,
Pod::Weaver::PluginBundle::Author::PERLANCAR, and sometimes one or two
other Dist::Zilla- and/or Pod::Weaver plugins. Any additional steps
required beyond that are considered a bug and can be reported to me.
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
This software is copyright (c) 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020 by perlancar
<perlancar@cpan.org>.
This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.
BUGS
Please report any bugs or feature requests on the bugtracker website
<https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=TableData>
When submitting a bug or request, please include a test-file or a patch
to an existing test-file that illustrates the bug or desired feature.