<s>
In	O
computing	O
,	O
a	O
device	O
or	O
software	O
program	O
is	O
said	O
to	O
be	O
agnostic	B-General_Concept
or	O
data	O
agnostic	B-General_Concept
if	O
the	O
method	O
or	O
format	O
of	O
data	O
transmission	O
is	O
irrelevant	O
to	O
the	O
device	O
or	O
program	O
’s	O
function	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
Apple	O
Inc	O
devices	O
generally	O
require	O
applications	O
to	O
be	O
downloaded	O
from	O
their	O
App	B-Application
Store	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
is	O
a	O
non-data	O
agnostic	B-General_Concept
method	O
,	O
as	O
it	O
uses	O
a	O
specified	O
file	O
type	O
,	O
downloaded	O
from	O
a	O
specific	O
location	O
,	O
and	O
does	O
not	O
function	O
unless	O
those	O
requirements	O
are	O
met	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Non-data	O
agnostic	B-General_Concept
devices	O
and	O
programs	O
can	O
present	O
problems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	O
agnostic	B-General_Concept
devices	O
and	O
programs	O
work	O
to	O
solve	O
these	O
problems	O
in	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
ways	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Devices	O
can	O
treat	O
files	O
in	O
the	O
same	O
way	O
whether	O
they	O
are	O
downloaded	O
over	O
the	O
internet	O
or	O
transferred	O
over	O
a	O
USB	B-Protocol
or	O
other	O
cable	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Devices	O
and	O
programs	O
can	O
become	O
more	O
data-agnostic	O
by	O
using	O
a	O
generic	O
storage	O
format	O
to	O
create	B-General_Concept
,	I-General_Concept
read	I-General_Concept
,	I-General_Concept
update	I-General_Concept
,	I-General_Concept
and	I-General_Concept
delete	I-General_Concept
files	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Formats	O
like	O
XML	B-Protocol
and	O
JSON	B-General_Concept
can	O
store	O
information	O
in	O
a	O
data	O
agnostic	B-General_Concept
manner	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
XML	B-Protocol
is	O
data	O
agnostic	B-General_Concept
in	O
that	O
it	O
can	O
save	O
any	O
type	O
of	O
information	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
if	O
you	O
use	O
Data	O
Transform	O
Definitions	O
(	O
DTD	O
)	O
or	O
XML	B-Protocol
Schema	O
Definitions	O
(	O
XSD	O
)	O
to	O
define	O
what	O
data	O
should	O
be	O
placed	O
where	O
,	O
it	O
becomes	O
non-data	O
agnostic	B-General_Concept
;	O
it	O
produces	O
an	O
error	O
if	O
the	O
wrong	O
type	O
of	O
data	O
is	O
placed	O
in	O
a	O
field	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Multiple	O
devices	O
and	O
programs	O
can	O
create	B-General_Concept
,	I-General_Concept
read	I-General_Concept
,	I-General_Concept
update	I-General_Concept
,	I-General_Concept
and	I-General_Concept
delete	I-General_Concept
(	O
CRUD	B-General_Concept
)	O
the	O
same	O
information	O
from	O
the	O
same	O
storage	O
location	O
without	O
formatting	O
errors	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
the	O
entity	O
synchronization	O
layer	O
is	O
data	O
agnostic	B-General_Concept
,	O
additional	O
fields	O
can	O
be	O
added	O
without	O
worrying	O
about	O
recoding	O
the	O
whole	O
database	O
,	O
and	O
concepts	O
created	O
in	O
other	O
programs	O
(	O
that	O
do	O
not	O
contain	O
that	O
field	O
)	O
are	O
fine	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Having	O
data	O
agnostic	B-General_Concept
devices	O
and	O
programs	O
allows	O
you	O
to	O
transfer	O
data	O
easily	O
between	O
them	O
,	O
without	O
having	O
to	O
convert	O
that	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Companies	O
like	O
Great	O
Ideaz	O
provide	O
data	O
agnostic	B-General_Concept
services	O
by	O
storing	O
the	O
data	O
in	O
an	O
entity	O
synchronization	O
layer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
acts	O
as	O
a	O
compatibility	O
layer	O
,	O
as	O
TSQL	B-Language
statements	O
can	O
retrieve	O
,	O
update	O
,	O
sort	O
,	O
and	O
write	O
data	O
regardless	O
of	O
the	O
format	O
employed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Keeping	O
your	O
devices	O
and	O
programs	O
as	O
data	O
agnostic	B-General_Concept
as	O
possible	O
has	O
some	O
clear	O
advantages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
the	O
data	O
is	O
stored	O
in	O
an	O
agnostic	B-General_Concept
format	O
,	O
developers	O
do	O
not	O
need	O
to	O
hard-code	O
ways	O
to	O
deal	O
with	O
all	O
different	O
kinds	O
of	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
table	O
with	O
information	O
about	O
dogs	O
and	O
one	O
with	O
information	O
about	O
cats	O
can	O
be	O
treated	O
in	O
the	O
same	O
way	O
;	O
extract	O
the	O
field	O
definitions	O
and	O
the	O
field	O
content	O
from	O
the	O
data	O
agnostic	B-General_Concept
storage	O
format	O
and	O
display	O
it	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
field	O
definitions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Using	O
the	O
same	O
code	O
for	O
the	O
different	O
concepts	O
to	O
CRUD	B-General_Concept
,	O
the	O
amount	O
of	O
code	O
is	O
significantly	O
reduced	O
,	O
and	O
what	O
remains	O
is	O
tested	O
with	O
each	O
concept	O
you	O
extract	O
from	O
the	O
entity	O
synchronization	O
layer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Whenever	O
the	O
data	O
can	O
be	O
treated	O
as	O
agnostic	B-General_Concept
,	O
the	O
coding	O
is	O
simplified	O
,	O
as	O
it	O
only	O
has	O
to	O
deal	O
with	O
one	O
case	O
(	O
the	O
data	O
agnostic	B-General_Concept
case	O
)	O
rather	O
than	O
multiple	O
(	O
png	O
,	O
pdf	B-Application
,	O
etc	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
the	O
data	O
must	O
be	O
displayed	O
or	O
acted	O
on	O
,	O
then	O
it	O
is	O
interpreted	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
field	O
definitions	O
and	O
formatting	O
information	O
,	O
and	O
returned	O
to	O
a	O
data	O
agnostic	B-General_Concept
format	O
as	O
soon	O
as	O
possible	O
to	O
reduce	O
the	O
number	O
of	O
individual	O
cases	O
that	O
must	O
be	O
accounted	O
for	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
,	O
however	O
,	O
a	O
few	O
problems	O
introduced	O
when	O
attempting	O
to	O
make	O
a	O
device	O
or	O
program	O
data	O
agnostic	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
only	O
one	O
piece	O
of	O
code	O
is	O
being	O
used	O
for	O
CRUD	B-General_Concept
operations	O
(	O
regardless	O
of	O
the	O
type	O
of	O
concept	O
)	O
,	O
there	O
is	O
a	O
single	B-Architecture
point	I-Architecture
of	I-Architecture
failure	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
Additionally	O
,	O
data	O
agnostic	B-General_Concept
storage	O
mediums	O
can	O
increase	O
load	O
speed	O
,	O
as	O
the	O
code	O
has	O
to	O
search	O
for	O
the	O
field	O
definitions	O
and	O
display	O
format	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
the	O
specific	O
data	O
to	O
be	O
displayed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
this	O
improves	O
the	O
speed	O
,	O
it	O
adds	O
a	O
non-data	O
agnostic	B-General_Concept
element	O
to	O
the	O
process	O
;	O
however	O
,	O
it	O
can	O
be	O
created	O
easily	O
through	O
code	B-Application
generation	I-Application
.	O
</s>
