[themerone]

Our EDI code probably has multiple if blocks for every customer we communicate with.

Implementing EDI is not for the faint of heart. For the variations I worked with, there was little useful documentation, I learned mostly be reading existing code. I would hate to have to start from scratch.

[pdimitar]

I wrote an EDI parser from scratch some years ago (2 to 5, really don't remember). Almost until the end I kept second-guessing myself. It all looked so flimsy.

Eventually I made a second parser that utilized a parser-combinator library (the first one was hand-rolled) and devised extremely detailed property tests that I ran against both parsers. Only then did I feel confident.

Naturally, in production the code crashed on the second day because OF COURSE the senders didn't obey the EDI[FACT] spec and had quirky deviations from it.

Shit like that makes people retire to the mountains and never touch a computer again, man.

[donzog]

I still work in the EDI-parser software but retiring to the mountain has never been more appealing.