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I so oppressed with YAML chosen as the configuration language for mainstream CI systems. How do people manage to live with this ? I always make mistakes - again

I so oppressed with YAML chosen as the configuration language for mainstream CI systems. How do people manage to live with this ? I always make mistakes - again and again. And I can never keep anything in my head. It's just not natural. Why couldn't they choose a programming language ? Restrict what can be done by all means, but something that has a proper parser, compiler errors and IDE/editor hinting support would be great. One can even choose an embedded language like Lua for restricted execution environments. Anything but YAML!

kzrdude 6y ago
I guess YAML has the best solution to nested scopes, just indentation
zaat 6y ago
VS code with the prettier extension is an IDE with hinting, parser and immediately show when you have (not compiler but) errors. If there is an extension for your CI system try installing it too.
stitched2gethr 6y ago
This is what chef did and I enjoyed it, but it seems that's not the way most systems went.
0xbadcafebee 6y ago
YAML is not a language, it's a data format. Why does nobody in the entire tech industry know the difference? I didn't even go to school and I figured it out. Most software today that uses YAML for a configuration file is taking a data format (YAML) applying a very shitty parser to create a data structure, and then feeding that data structure to a function, which then determines what other functions to call. There's no grammar, no semantics, no lexer, no operators, and no types, save those inherent to the data format it was encoded in (YAML). Sometimes they'll look like they include expressions, but really they're just function arguments.
- anonydsfsfs 6y ago
  The gp isn't talking about YAML in itself, they're talking about YAML as it's used by mainstream CI systems. Github Actions, for example, encodes conditionals, functions, and a whole lot of other language elements in its YAML format. To say it's "just a data format" is like saying XSLT is "just a markup language" because it's written in XML.
- aliswe 6y ago
  All CI yaml configs look basically the same, so I believe this is missing the intended point. But, TIL. Thanks
- oblio 6y ago
  > YAML is not a language, it's a data format. Yet Another Markup <<Language>> (which later supposedly became "YAML Ain't Markup Language", because every villain needs a better backstory).

kzrdude 6y ago

I guess YAML has the best solution to nested scopes, just indentation

zaat 6y ago

VS code with the prettier extension is an IDE with hinting, parser and immediately show when you have (not compiler but) errors. If there is an extension for your CI system try installing it too.

stitched2gethr 6y ago

This is what chef did and I enjoyed it, but it seems that's not the way most systems went.

0xbadcafebee 6y ago

YAML is not a language, it's a data format. Why does nobody in the entire tech industry know the difference? I didn't even go to school and I figured it out. Most software today that uses YAML for a configuration file is taking a data format (YAML) applying a very shitty parser to create a data structure, and then feeding that data structure to a function, which then determines what other functions to call. There's no grammar, no semantics, no lexer, no operators, and no types, save those inherent to the data format it was encoded in (YAML). Sometimes they'll look like they include expressions, but really they're just function arguments.

anonydsfsfs 6y ago
The gp isn't talking about YAML in itself, they're talking about YAML as it's used by mainstream CI systems. Github Actions, for example, encodes conditionals, functions, and a whole lot of other language elements in its YAML format. To say it's "just a data format" is like saying XSLT is "just a markup language" because it's written in XML.
aliswe 6y ago
All CI yaml configs look basically the same, so I believe this is missing the intended point. But, TIL. Thanks
oblio 6y ago
> YAML is not a language, it's a data format. Yet Another Markup <<Language>> (which later supposedly became "YAML Ain't Markup Language", because every villain needs a better backstory).