From: Michael Schoen <schoenm@...>
Date: 2006-04-02T23:43:10+09:00
Subject: Re: [ANN] FasterCSV 0.2.0 -- The user requests release!

Awesome, thank you!

James Edward Gray II wrote:
> FasterCSV 0.2.0 Released
> ========================
> 
> FasterCSV has a ton of new features from requests (some even provided 
> patches) by you!  It's very  hard for me to pick what to show off here, 
> but if I had to pick two favorites it would be using an Array of headers 
> and the new shortcut interface.
> 
> Since 0.1.6, FasterCSV has allowed named access for columns.  Now you 
> can say goodbye to indexes altogether as Dakshinamurthy Karra has sent 
> in a patch allowing you to specify an Array of headers to use for any 
> document.  Just setup the headers when you create the instance and it's 
> nothing but names you'll have to worry about from then on.
> 
> Ara.T.Howard also sent in a patch for a short but powerful interface 
> extension.  Check this out:
> 
>   FCSV            { |csv_out| csv_out << %w{my data here} }  # to STDOUT
>   FCSV(csv = "")  { |csv_str| csv_str << %w{my data here} }  # to a String
>   FCSV(STDERR)    { |csv_err| csv_err << %w{my data here} }  # to STDERR
> 
> You can wrap IO objects with that, change options, or whatever.  It also 
> caches the instance so subsequent calls won't invent another FasterCSV 
> object.
> 
> There's a lot more in this release though, including serialization 
> similar to what Hal Fulton described in his metaprogramming article and 
> a CSV compatibility layer for easy transitioning.
> 
> If you work with CSV data, you want to download this release, trust me!
> 
> 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.  (We're about even now,
>     but not if you compare the features!)
> 3.  Improve on the CSV interface.
> 
> What's New?
> -----------
> 
> (highlights from the CHANGELOG)
> 
> * Made FasterCSV#lineno CSV aware.
> * Added line numbers to MalformedCSVError messages.
> * <tt>:headers</tt> can now be set to an Array of headers to use.
> * <tt>:headers</tt> can now be set to an external CSV String of headers 
> to use.
> * Added an <tt>:unconverted_fields</tt> options, so those can be returned
>   when needed.
> * Provided support for the serialization of custom Ruby objects using CSV.
> * Added CSV drop-in interface.
> * Added header information to FieldInfo Struct for conversions by header.
> * Added an alias to support <tt>require "fastercsv"</tt>.
> * Added FasterCSV::instance and FasterCSV()/FCSV() shortcuts for easy 
> output.
> 
> 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:
> 
> james@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=2471
> 
> 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=4758
> 
> James Edward Gray II
> 
> 
>