4 ms·

Personally I'm partial to the classic Windows-style INI file. Because it was designed to be a human-editable configuration file format, it has a simple and int

Personally I'm partial to the classic Windows-style INI file. Because it was designed to be a human-editable configuration file format, it has a simple and intuitive format that is easy for both humans and machines: [Section] ; comment Key1=Value ; comment Key2=Value [Section2] Key1=Value It is also easy for machines to non-destructively edit, maintaining existing comments and formatting by humans, and applications take advantage of that. That is a big plus in my opinion.

Pxtl 8y ago
The problem with ini is that it has no good story for arrays or associative arrays. TOML attempts to fix this, but it provides ugly format for arrays and associative arrays.
- afiori 8y ago
  I personally find the TOML solution quite nice. In part because you can always drop to JSON syntax to avoid excessive nesting of array tables.
cheerlessbog 8y ago
TOML is arguably an evolution of ini format.
tinus_hn 8y ago
It is pretty limited and the worst part is quoting. What if your value contains \n? What about UTF8?
BuckRogers 8y ago
I agree, but my second choice if INI doesn't suit someone is just the standard app.config in Windows (trivial to interface with in the .Net space), or storing the values in a table. I'd prefer any of these before JSON or the other alternatives.
robocat 8y ago
Horrible for: UTF8, syntax checks, numbers (albeit JSON has this problem too for floats), deep nesting, arrays, strings as keys, consistency between different parsers, etc etc Good for: comments, readability if keys limited, familiarity.
- TazeTSchnitzel 8y ago
  UTF-8 is only a problem if you're using the Windows implementation. I don't see what the problem with numbers is, either, pick a representation that suits you and use it.
h1d 8y ago
No standard = deal breaker. Comments might work for a parser but not on another. What's the point when you can do better with TOML?

Pxtl 8y ago

The problem with ini is that it has no good story for arrays or associative arrays. TOML attempts to fix this, but it provides ugly format for arrays and associative arrays.

afiori 8y ago
I personally find the TOML solution quite nice. In part because you can always drop to JSON syntax to avoid excessive nesting of array tables.

cheerlessbog 8y ago

TOML is arguably an evolution of ini format.

tinus_hn 8y ago

It is pretty limited and the worst part is quoting. What if your value contains \n? What about UTF8?

BuckRogers 8y ago

I agree, but my second choice if INI doesn't suit someone is just the standard app.config in Windows (trivial to interface with in the .Net space), or storing the values in a table. I'd prefer any of these before JSON or the other alternatives.

robocat 8y ago

Horrible for: UTF8, syntax checks, numbers (albeit JSON has this problem too for floats), deep nesting, arrays, strings as keys, consistency between different parsers, etc etc Good for: comments, readability if keys limited, familiarity.

TazeTSchnitzel 8y ago
UTF-8 is only a problem if you're using the Windows implementation. I don't see what the problem with numbers is, either, pick a representation that suits you and use it.

h1d 8y ago

No standard = deal breaker. Comments might work for a parser but not on another. What's the point when you can do better with TOML?