One of the best things about standards is the large number you have to choose from. "Standard" ways of storing data proliferate in all areas of computing. Knowing that make us understand that there is a natural desire to write software that can cope with more than one data format, but this can be a major undertaking.

• Planning & preparing for Conversion encompasses the following activities:
  • Name Your Formats
  • Defining Rules and Regulations
  • Defining Conversion Commands
  • Accessing Sub-structures Within Foreign Data Files
  • Writing and/or updating Format Conversion Utilities
  • Defining Output Formats
  • Specifying Output Format
  • Propagating Data Formats
  • Resolving Naming Ambiguities
  • Setting Up New Formats
  • Explicit Deletion Commands
  • Retaining Converted Data
  • Specifying Where the Data is Stored
  • Efficiency Considerations
  • Data Compression
  • Handling Errors in Conversion Commands
  • Avoiding Unwanted Recursion
  • Debugging Conversion Commands