Most people that complain about YAML are like a person complaining that tennis shoes are terrible because when you try to rock climb in them, they don't have tr

Most people that complain about YAML are like a person complaining that tennis shoes are terrible because when you try to rock climb in them, they don't have traction and you slip and fall. Tennis shoes are garbage! ..... Or maybe tennis shoes are good for what they were designed for, and you need a different kind of shoe for rock climbing. YAML is a human-readable data-serialization language. Note the word readable, and that it's for data serialization. It's not intended to be human-writeable. It's not intended to configure an application (unless that configuration is the result of serializing the data object created after someone configures the app). Since programmers don't really understand the different types/classes of file formats and what they're for, they choose the wrong formats for the wrong tasks. And then the people who are forced into using those formats for those programs find it's highly problematic - but they get pissed off at the formats and not the programmer! I'm perfectly happy for people to create new data serialization formats, new configuration formats, new markup formats. But please avoid the trap of thinking "this format or that format sucks". None of them suck for what they were created for, when used correctly. YAML, for example, has huge advantages over most common data serialization formats. But those advantages fly out the window as soon as humans start writing YAML by hand, and then bolting on weird custom logic, as if this data serialization format were a higher-level language.