Legacy File Schema - Reverse Engineering

Question

I'm currently in the process of converting over 20k database tables from Corel Paradox 4.0 format (DOS Based, with a .db extension) to SQL databases, and rather than using off the shelf software, I'm currently looking into using a light scripting language like Python (or Ruby or PHP, but Python is ideal since I'm working on a Windows desktop setup -- although I could boot one of my Linux VM's for development if needed) for me to write a set of code to simply pull all the .db files in a directory and output a set of .sql databases in just one click.

Now while I know PHP has a limited library built to specifically handle Paradox files, when it comes to Python, Ruby, and other languages I haven't had much luck.

My question now is, when it comes to writing a script to convert formats, how do I go about defining the syntax of the file to be inputted? For example, when it comes to .exe, .zip, .msi, and so on, is there a single format/syntax published for developers to follow, and if so, what are the most comprehensive/solid sources to check?

I currently have a copy of Paradox for Windows which I can use to view the fields and tables, but that isn't helping me with my scripts as it only shows a high-level overview.

Thanks very much for any information,

Answer 1

Why do not you want to use already existing software? For example, a quick googling yielded this toolset (I do not have Paradox databases to test, but it seems to compile correctly).