How do you learn something new, like a new framework or your first programming language? You copy/paste the examples and tweak to fit your needs. "Ease of use" for beginners is moot if good tutorials provide well-written copy/paste examples of how to configure. XML will be fine in tutorial usage since beginners will copy/paste, in addition to putting it in the best default format when advanced configuration is necessary.
You can also cater to those with IDEs support for XSD validation in a "Note:" callout box right after the beginner examples. If people are using Notepad, they don't have syntax highlighting to begin with. Surely they are OK working with HTML in that view. XML shouldn't be a big jump from there. If they're using TextMate or VIM, they already have syntax highlighting, aiding in reading the verbosity of the config. +1 for XML for beginner tutorials and core/bundle default On Sep 25, 12:38 am, Fabien Potencier <fabien.potenc...@symfony- project.com> wrote: > On 9/24/10 10:13 PM, Brandon Turner wrote: > > > I tend to agree with Jon here. Fabien, can you explain why the need > > for a YAML parser is a show-stopper for YAML being the default? > > I've done many symfony workshops. And here is what I see during these > workshops: > > * People do NOT have any IDE (so many people just use Notepad !) -- so > XML is probably not an option for them; > > * But YAML is HARD to get right. > > Here is a YAML file: > > foo: > bar: foobar > > bar > foo: barfoo > > Can you spot the problem here? I can because I know where to look for. > But people can get stuck on this one for HOURS; even if there is an > error message saying: "Unable to parse line 4 (bar).". And after 2-3 > more problems like this one with YAML, they will just hate symfony. And > that's only if they understand that the problem is in the YAML > configuration file. > > So, YAML being the default is nice if everything goes fine BUT as soon > as you make a typo, you are going to loose people pretty fast. > > Of course, the documentation can explain the common problems with YAML > (that's what we have in the current symfony documentation); but frankly, > people do not read documentation and even if they do, they won't > remember to check the troubleshooting section when they have a problem. > Why? Because they won't even understand that the problem is in the YAML > file. > > To sum up, I'm against YAML because of my experience as a symfony trainer. > > Fabien -- If you want to report a vulnerability issue on symfony, please send it to security at symfony-project.com You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "symfony developers" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/symfony-devs?hl=en
