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YAML: probably not so great after all (2017)

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Re: YAML: probably not so great after all (2017)

#152
post #41

Object graphs are the answer to the endless iteration on the right config format: http://codesolvent.com/config-node/ it is however difficult to pull off and requires productization, in other words not low-level tooling in a text file.

> difficult to pull off and requires productization, in other words not low-level tooling in a text file.

Is this supposed to be a feature? One of the great things about simple config files is that you can use standard GNU tools to view edit, and diff them, you can put them in source control, you can be sure that you can edit them on a remote server no matter what's installed, etc.

Eliminating all those benefits would require an extraordinary jump in functionality as a tradeoff, a jump in functionality that most things frankly don't need.

Re: YAML: probably not so great after all (2017)

#154
post #23

Not agreeing or disagreeing, but I read both this and his other post about JSON as configuration file and I have not seen him propose and argue for an alternative.

He doesn't have to propose an alternative to have an opinion on it. If I don't enjoy a movie, I'm under no obligation to suggest another. It's an opinion. It can stand alone.

In your analogy, the alternative is to not see the movie. The analogous alternative would be to... what? Not use config files? Doesn't seem like much of an alternative to me.

Re: YAML: probably not so great after all (2017)

#155
post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the "So Much More" button is a link to the docs:) Yeah... No. It looks like a link to yet more marketing-speak, and the page it links to answers zero answers as to why I would ever want it. Hiding the product README in some nested folder in the source code is also a brilliant idea. So, nope. I’m sticking to my YMLs and EDNs.

I am afraid your own cynicism (warranted or not) might be really blinding you here...I am not sure whether to feel proud of myself when my writing is designated "marketing speak" :) The documentation link LITERALLY shows how to use the product. Nothing is hidden, if you read the platform docs ( http://codesolvent.com/doc/webapps/ ) you see it says: "Solvent is an integrated platform that combines an application conta…

> Solvent is an integrated platform that combines an application container (jetty), a middle-ware and a developer environment to provide a complete solution for delivering web applications.

Bingo.

Re: YAML: probably not so great after all (2017)

#156
post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The answer is a marketing website with market-speak all over the page and 'Executable not found "/eula"' when trying to read Terms and Conditions? Edit: I actually did download whatever this thing is. What is this thing? The README is Jetty's README. There are dozens of dirs with crap^W code in them. It really is an answer to YAML/JSON, surely.

thanks for the broken link pointer, it will be fixed. the "So Much More" button is a link to the docs:) Here's the ConfigNode doc: http://codesolvent.com/doc/config-node/ The platform doc: http://codesolvent.com/doc/webapps/ If you're interested, send me an email (in my profile).

I recommend changing "So Much More" to "Documentation" or something. I had no idea that was a link, let alone a potentially useful link.

Re: YAML: probably not so great after all (2017)

#157
post #41

Object graphs are the answer to the endless iteration on the right config format: http://codesolvent.com/config-node/ it is however difficult to pull off and requires productization, in other words not low-level tooling in a text file.

YAML and JSON already represent object graphs. This appears to be essentially a config file editor, not a superior configuration format. It has a GUI for creating or editing a config, and then it outputs YAML or JSON or XML.

Re: YAML: probably not so great after all (2017)

#158
post #63

One thing to remember is that YAML is about 20 years old. It was created when XML was at peak popularity. JSON didn't exist (YAML is a parallel, contemporary effort). Even articulating the problems with XML's approach was an uphill battle. What you would replace it with is also hard. What use cases matter? What is the core model? A simple hierarchy? Typed nodes? A graph? What sort of syntax is needed for it to be usa…

Drupal 8 uses YAML* as its configuration language because JSON doesn't support comments. That simple. Thank you for YAML, it does deliver for us: it's human readable and it's easy to parse (see below). * I mean, it uses an ill defined subset of YAML. The definition is "whatever the Symfony YAML parser supports".

> JSON doesn't support comments

eh?

{ "firstName": "John", "lastName": "Smith", "comment": "foo", }

I know it isn't the same as #comments, but who cares really.

Re: YAML: probably not so great after all (2017)

#159
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Drupal 8 uses YAML* as its configuration language because JSON doesn't support comments. That simple. Thank you for YAML, it does deliver for us: it's human readable and it's easy to parse (see below). * I mean, it uses an ill defined subset of YAML. The definition is "whatever the Symfony YAML parser supports".

> JSON doesn't support comments eh? { "firstName": "John", "lastName": "Smith", "comment": "foo", } I know it isn't the same as #comments, but who cares really.

It seems the main difference is your comments are all parsed and loaded into memory with the file, while official comments aren't.

Re: YAML: probably not so great after all (2017)

#160
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Drupal 8 uses YAML* as its configuration language because JSON doesn't support comments. That simple. Thank you for YAML, it does deliver for us: it's human readable and it's easy to parse (see below). * I mean, it uses an ill defined subset of YAML. The definition is "whatever the Symfony YAML parser supports".

> JSON doesn't support comments eh? { "firstName": "John", "lastName": "Smith", "comment": "foo", } I know it isn't the same as #comments, but who cares really.

> who cares really

the person who came up with HOCON, probably

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