Please Stop Using CSV Files as an ETL Delivery Vehicle

I realize how convenient and “compatible” using CSV files for import and export appears to be at first glance, and I also realize that many languages tantalizingly have libraries that make enabling CSV import/export to structs or classes native to your language of choice look appealing.

I’m here to go against your initial intuition and point out some things you may not have thought of that can (and likely will) come back to bite you in the ass. The problem with using CSV is the data itself. Data in a DB is not often as sanitized as it…