When defining the data format for an input or output file, we should choose a representation which suits the ECLiPSe application. Table 6.1 shows good and bad formats. Prolog terms are very easy to read and to write, simple tabular forms are easy to write, but more complex to read. Comma separated files need a special tokenizer which separates fields by comma characters. The most complex input format is given by a fixed column format, for example generated by FORTRAN applications. We should avoid such data formats as input if possible, since they require significant development effort.
