[HN Gopher] Why JSON Isn't A Good Configuration Language (2018)
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       Why JSON Isn't A Good Configuration Language (2018)
        
       Author : optimalsolver
       Score  : 7 points
       Date   : 2022-06-07 21:36 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.lucidchart.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.lucidchart.com)
        
       | linkdd wrote:
       | > Write your own
       | 
       | No.
       | 
       | No.
       | 
       | No no no.
       | 
       | Definitely no.
       | 
       | I wish for a standardized configuration format so that I don't
       | have to learn a new format for each software. At least JSON, TOML
       | (and INI) and YAML are widely used enough so there is little
       | chances that you don't know them.
        
       | mdmglr wrote:
       | Write your own is a bad option. I have tried it and found that
       | you end up spending lots of time maintaining a parser.
       | 
       | I have found some success in my org using JSON with JSON Schema
       | [1]. Combine with a json schema aware IDE like VS Code it solves
       | the documentation problem.
       | 
       | [1] https://json-schema.org/
        
       | 120bits wrote:
       | I went from simple flat file with tab separated configs to xml to
       | Protobuf and to JSON/TOML.
       | 
       | Every time we had issues, it was because we were trying to spin
       | our OWN version of configuration file. It breaks backward
       | compatibility and versioning. Code collaboration was horrible and
       | devs were getting frustrated.
        
       | arielcostas wrote:
       | Why not use XML? Fairly similar to HTML, which almost everyone
       | has probably seen/used at least once, and it's kinda easy to
       | understand. It supports comments, attributes and elements and
       | schemas (which help with validation, editor autocompletion and
       | documentation), and is also widely supported in many languages.
        
         | billconan wrote:
         | too verbose. not ergonomic.
        
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       (page generated 2022-06-07 23:02 UTC)