aaron_baugher:
I agree that a database could be a good way to store this data, especially if it's going to be mined in various ways. However, if I'm given this file as-is and told to produce the reports specified by the OP, I'm not going to go to the trouble to put it in a database so that I can run SQL statements on it. I can write a script to get it directly in far less time, so a database will only become an advantage if I need to pull reports from it in several different ways.
I agree with every single word of what you say, Aaron.
To me, using a database is overkill for such a simple problem. I would certainly not do that unless there are some other very good reasons to do it.
