.. _intro:

Introduction
============

This part of the documentation covers all the interfaces of Tablib.
Tablib is a format-agnostic tabular dataset library, written in Python.
It allows you to Pythonically import, export, and manipulate tabular data sets.
Advanced features include, segregation, dynamic columns, tags / filtering, and
seamless format import/export.


Philosphy
---------

Tablib was developed with a few :pep:`20` idioms in mind.


#. Beautiful is better than ugly.
#. Explicit is better than implicit.
#. Simple is better than complex.
#. Complex is better than complicated.
#. Readability counts.

All contributions to Tablib should keep these important rules in mind.

.. mit:

MIT License
-----------

A large number of open source projects you find today are `GPL Licensed`_.
While the GPL has its time and place, it should most certainly not be your
go-to license for your next open source project.

A project that is released as GPL cannot be used in any commercial product
without the product itself also being offered as open source. The MIT, BSD, and
ISC licenses are great alternatives to the GPL that allow your open-source
software to be used in proprietary, closed-source software.

Tablib is released under terms of `The MIT License`_.

.. _`GPL Licensed`: http://www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php
.. _`The MIT License`: http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php


.. _license:

Tablib License
--------------

Copyright 2011 Kenneth Reitz

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
THE SOFTWARE.


.. _pythonsupport:

Pythons Supported
-----------------

At this time, the following Python platforms are officially supported:

* cPython 2.5
* cPython 2.6
* cPython 2.7
* cPython 3.1
* cPython 3.2
* PyPy-c 1.4
* PyPy-c 1.5

Support for other Pythons will be rolled out soon.




Now, go :ref:`Install Tablib <install>`.