#1 Support for common file types

[Scott Dick]

The GNN Simulator currently uses a custom data file format. Users must currently invest significant effort to convert their data into this format. The pupose of this RFE is to add the ability to accept other common file formats. These include:

-C4.5 .names files (and associated .data files)
-WEKA .arff files

Details about these file types may be found on-line.

-CSV files: comma-separated values. The first line is a list of feature names, separated by commas. Each subsequent line is an input-output example, with each attribute value separated by commans. The ordering of attribute values in each line must be the same as the ordering of attribute names in the first line. MS Excel (among many others) will output a CSV file.

There are two ways in which support for alternative file types may be designed. First, one could write a separate filter for each data type that directly imports the data into the GNN Simulator. Second, one could write a conversion routine that converts the alternative formats into the GNN Simulator file format before importing the data using the existing functionality.