Tabular expressions, also called tables, are formal notations using tables to organize mathematical functions and relations. They have been widely used in documenting and analyzing software specification. Different tools are developed to support tabular expressions. To further enhance tables' usage, a convention on storing and parsing tables is required. This paper presents a canonical interchange format for tabular expressions based on XML. This format captures four aspects of tables: the constituent, dynamic, representation and additional information. Our proposal builds on syntax definition of tables and is tailored to provide flexibility in manipulation of table content. It is suitable for existing and emerging kinds of tables. This study facilitates the interchange between different tools for tabular expressions, which would prevent developer's repetitive work.
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