Thomas wrote:
> Your first problem is that the survey results are stored 
> in a file.
> They should really have been stored in a backend database 
> like MySQL

I like data files, preferably flat ASCII text files. My 
favourite format uses tabs and newlines as column and row 
separators respectively. With this format you can copy and 
paste to/from Excel with ease. The files can also be read 
easily by R, the statistical analysis package. And of course 
they can be generated and read trivially with any 
programming language, even C.

Databases are unnecessary for many purposes. Sledgehammers 
and nuts come to mind.

David

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