PUBLIC MARKS from pvergain with tags python & parsing

There are countless reasons for parsing data, as well as tools and techniques to do it. But even the "right" tool may be insufficient when you need to do something new with the data. The same concerns exist for the integration of heterogeneous data sources. Sooner or later, the right tool for the right job happens to be a programming language. Oracle offers some very powerful utilities for loading, processing, and unloading data. SQL*Loader, Data Pump, external tables, Oracle Text, regular expressions—it's all there. Yet there is often a need to do things outside the database (or, trivially, perhaps you just weren't granted the necessary database privileges). Python delivers possibilities for efficient data parsing at a high level. The extensive standard library and many modules available for free on the Internet make it possible to work with data logic rather than dissecting bytes by hand.

Construct is a python library for parsing and building of arbitrary data structures. It works by defining complex constructs using more primitive ones, in a hierarchy. This declarative structuring of components makes it very flexible and strong. It's the first library that makes parsing fun, instead of the usual headache it is today.