I can kind of understand it after having to work with an XML file where users encoded data into comments for no good reason. But yeah, it does make JSON awkward for lots of potential use-cases.
They’re not supposed to contain data, but some parsers will allow you to access what’s written into comments. And so, of course, someone made use of that and I had to extract what was encoded basically like that:
<!--
Host: toaster,
Location: moon,
--><data>Actual XML follows...</data>
My best guess is that they added this data into comments rather than child nodes or attributes, because they were worried some of the programs using this XML would not be able to handle an extension of the format.
In an ideal world, yes. In a locked down world where you have access only to 1/4 the codebase or your job is more ontology-focused, all you have access to might be the JSON. Leaving a comment or two about why a particular value or hierarchy is as it is is sometimes more clear than writing up a seperate README that no one will read
Almost all of those issues are solved by explicitly quoting your strings, the author even acknowledges that. Yeah it’s annoying that yaml lets you do otherwise, but the title is a bit dramatic.
Coming from powershell scripting, every string is put in quotes and to be printed strings with variables are put in $($var) (e.g. Write-Host "Example-Issue: $($IssueVariable)")
Saves me the trouble of hoping that $($IssueVariable) isnt interpreted as a string by PowerShell.
Time to read this if you haven’t already
https://ruudvanasseldonk.com/2023/01/11/the-yaml-document-from-hell
Iceland mentioned 🇮🇸
See, this is why we can’t have nice things.
I can kind of understand it after having to work with an XML file where users encoded data into comments for no good reason. But yeah, it does make JSON awkward for lots of potential use-cases.
Hm? Comments are not data.
They’re not supposed to contain data, but some parsers will allow you to access what’s written into comments. And so, of course, someone made use of that and I had to extract what was encoded basically like that:
<!-- Host: toaster, Location: moon, --> <data>Actual XML follows...</data>My best guess is that they added this data into comments rather than child nodes or attributes, because they were worried some of the programs using this XML would not be able to handle an extension of the format.
They are useful metadata important to the longterm lifespan of the codebase
That’s why they make sense in code and config files. JSON is neither, despite the insistence of far too many people to write configuration in it.
In an ideal world, yes. In a locked down world where you have access only to 1/4 the codebase or your job is more ontology-focused, all you have access to might be the JSON. Leaving a comment or two about why a particular value or hierarchy is as it is is sometimes more clear than writing up a seperate README that no one will read
This would undoubtedly, unquestionably happen, and it would break JSON. The only reason it works so well is because comments aren’t allowed.
As if I didn’t hate the format enough before
Almost all of those issues are solved by explicitly quoting your strings, the author even acknowledges that. Yeah it’s annoying that yaml lets you do otherwise, but the title is a bit dramatic.
Coming from powershell scripting, every string is put in quotes and to be printed strings with variables are put in
$($var)(e.g.Write-Host "Example-Issue: $($IssueVariable)")Saves me the trouble of hoping that
$($IssueVariable)isnt interpreted as a string by PowerShell.