Agnostic (data)

In computing, a device or software program is said to be agnostic or data agnostic if the method or format of data transmission is irrelevant to the device or program's function. This means that the device or program can receive data in multiple formats or from multiple sources, and still process that data effectively.

Many devices or programs need data to be presented in a specific format to process the data. For example, Apple Inc devices generally require applications to be downloaded from their App Store. This is a non data-agnostic method, as it uses a specified file type, downloaded from a specific location, and does not function unless those requirements are met.

Non data-agnostic devices and programs can present problems. For example, if your file contains the right type of data (such as text), but in the wrong format, you may have to create a new file and enter the text manually in the proper format in order to use that program. Various file conversion programs exist because people need to convert their files to a different format in order to use them effectively.

Data agnostic devices and programs work to solve these problems in a variety of ways. Devices can treat files in the same way whether they are downloaded over the internet or transferred over a USB or other cable.

Devices and programs can become more data-agnostic by using a generic storage format to create, read, update and delete files. Formats like XML and JSON can store information in a data agnostic manner. For example, XML is data agnostic in that it can save any type of information. However, if you use Data Transform Definitions (DTD) or XML Schema Definitions (XSD) to define what data should be placed where, it becomes non-data agnostic; it produces an error if the wrong type of data is placed in a field.

Once you have your data saved in a generic storage format, this source can act as an entity synchronization layer. The generic storage format can interface with a variety of different programs, with the data extraction method formatting the data in a way that the specific program can understand. This allows two programs that require different data formats to access the same data. Multiple devices and programs can create, read, update and delete (CRUD) the same information from the same storage location without formatting errors.

When multiple programs are accessing the same records, they may have different defined fields for the same type of concept. Where the fields are differently labelled but contain the same data, the program pulling the information can ensure the correct data is used. If one program contains fields and information that another does not, those fields can be saved to the record and pulled for that program, but ignored by other programs. As the entity synchronization layer is data agnostic, additional fields can be added without worrying about recoding the whole database, and concepts created in other programs (that do not contain that field) are fine.

Since the information formatting is imposed on the data by the program extracting it, the format can be customized to the device or program extracting and displaying that data. The information extracted from the entity synchronization layer can therefore be dynamically rendered to display on the user's device, regardless of the device or program being used.