From: Jonas Melian [mailto:jonas.esp@googlemail.com] Some suggestions:
Just to state the obvious, any change in the data format means changing the parsers - and there are many parsers other than the one in tzcode. Also, the data format is not designed for maximum readability. End-users are not supposed to deal with any of this data directly.
1) To using ISO 3166 3-character country code becasuse is more readable. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1
For any person it's easier to identify a country by the code of 3-letters that by the one of 2-letters.
For most computer people, the 2-letter codes are by far the most commonly used ones. End-users should see a map, or a menu with place names in their language.
2) Columns separated by another character different of a tab, as ':'. So it's more readable for humans and too for the machines. And so it's easier to maintain that table.
As far as I know, it's actually whitespace (one or more space or tab) separating columns, visually assuming a fixed-width font. I find columns quite readable, and whitespace separation is easy for a parser, too. Best regards, markus -- Opinions expressed here may not reflect my company's positions unless otherwise noted.