CSV
Comma-Separated Values
ELI5 — The Vibe Check
CSV is the simplest way to share table data — just rows of values separated by commas. It's what you export from Excel. Great for importing/exporting bulk data, terrible for anything complex. Every app in the world can read a CSV.
Real Talk
CSV is a plain text file format that represents tabular data where each line is a row and values within each row are separated by commas (or sometimes semicolons/tabs). It lacks a strict standard but is universally supported for data exchange.
Show Me The Code
id,name,email,active
1,Alice,alice@example.com,true
2,Bob,bob@example.com,false
When You'll Hear This
"Export the user list as CSV for the marketing team." / "Parse the uploaded CSV to import the products."
Related Terms
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)
JSON is the universal language the internet uses to pass data around. It looks like a JavaScript object — curly braces, key-value pairs.
Serialization
Serialization is turning a complex object in your code (like a User with methods and nested data) into a flat format that can be sent over the internet, li...
XML (eXtensible Markup Language)
XML is like JSON's older, more verbose cousin. Instead of curly braces, it uses opening and closing tags like HTML.