formatfrom
Formatfrom is a term used in data processing to describe a component or function that converts input data from a specified source format into a canonical internal representation used by a system. It is often contrasted with formatto, which writes data from the internal representation to a target format.
Formatfrom enables data ingestion from multiple formats in a single pipeline. By decoupling the parsing logic
Design and implementation typically involve pluggable adapters, stateless parsers, and robust error handling. A formatfrom module
In practice, a typical usage pattern is to call formatfrom with the source format and content, producing
Relation to formatto: formatfrom reads and normalizes input, formatto writes data from the canonical form to
Limitations: success depends on available parsers; ambiguity or loss of source-specific metadata may occur; performance overhead
See also: data serialization, data pipeline, parser, ETL. The term is largely used in theoretical discussions