> On Oct 21, 2016, at 12:42 PM, Tony Garnock-Jones <to...@ccs.neu.edu> wrote: > > On 10/21/2016 01:21 AM, 'John Clements' via Racket Users wrote: >> I thought hard about scribble and JSON (and xml, yecch), but I think >> that YAML and sexps are the two viable candidates, and I’m guessing >> that if non-programmers have to edit it, they’ll be less likely to >> botch the YAML one. > > If it's a choice between the two then RUN, do not walk, away from YAML > and go for sexps. (XML or JSON would also be OK choices.) > > YAML is never the right choice. (In writing this email, I have gone over > it several times toning down my language.) > > YAML makes XML look simple, elegant and well-designed. The spec is ~80 > pages long. I find it impossible to predict how a YAML processor will > interpret any given input. > > You know how Excel guesses whether things are dates or not and messes > things up as a consequence? YAML does that too. > > The "spec" vaguely suggests that applications should use regular > expressions to take a guess at what type of information is presented in > a non-explicitly-tagged field. What if there are multiple possible > interpretations? The spec doesn't help you. No, it explicitly disavows > responsibility for such weighty decisions, pointing out that ultimately, > "tag resolution is specific to the application". It's a mess. > > There's room for something that does what YAML aims to do, but YAML > isn't it.
Interesting. I’m trying to wiggle out of your argument, but it’s fairly persuasive. Many thanks for your info. Sigh. John -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Racket Users" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to racket-users+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
