Preferences json not yaml?

[delucia]

I noticed that the preferences are written in json which is nice and easy to edit. However I think yaml would be a better choice because it relies on indentation which makes it easy to read like python syntax. I see json more of a transport protocol and yaml for human readable markup.

Thanks

[jbrooksuk]

To change it now would be a big change.

There is also nothing wrong with JSON and it's regarded as the most popular format for such things

[delucia]

json is good but yaml is better (in this case). Isn't your goal to be sublime?

I would like you to take a look at it because many times a big change ends up being not that bad after it's done.

[jbrooksuk]

json is good but yaml is better (in this case). Isn't your goal to be sublime?

I would like you to take a look at it because many times a big change ends up being not that bad after it's done.

I know how YAML works, it's not bad, but to me, and I'm sure others JSON makes it far easier to understand what is going on.

[delucia]

Can we see sublime-keymap in json and yaml and compare?

[jbrooksuk]

Can we see sublime-keymap in json and yaml and compare?

If you'd like to convert it then ok.

[Anomareh]

Aye, I agree YAML would have been a much better choice. Off the top of my end I think there would be a lot less escaping needs and it'd be much more readable and easier to maintain, which is good for config files. Right now with JSON it's rather curly brace hell and it's very easy to get lost in all the nested brackets and braces.

Perhaps there was a technical limitation of some sort?

[delucia]

Ok here is segment of the keymap file and the equivalent in yaml. I think the yaml is leaner and easier to read.

JSON:

[
{ "keys": ["backspace"], "command": "left_delete" },
{ "keys": ["shift+backspace"], "command": "left_delete" },
{ "keys": ["ctrl+shift+backspace"], "command": "left_delete" },
{ "keys": ["delete"], "command": "right_delete" },
{ "keys": ["enter"], "command": "insert", "args": {"characters": "\n"} },
{ "keys": ["shift+enter"], "command": "insert", "args": {"characters": "\n"} }
]

YAML:

- keys: [backspace]
command: left_delete
- keys: [shift+backspace]
command: left_delete
- keys: [ctrl+shift+backspace]
command: left_delete
- keys: [delete]
command: right_delete
- keys: [enter]
command: insert
args: {characters : "\n"}
- keys: [shift+enter]
command: insert
args: {characters : "\n"}

[ironcladlou]

As a programmer, I can appreciate the convenience of JSON as a portable and well-supported format.

As an end-user, I struggle to imagine a more unreadable mess for dealing with a large configuration system such as Sublime's. I never thought I'd find myself missing XML (for the keymaps).

To me this is brace/bracket/quoted literal/string escaping-hell. Definitely a step backwards from the previous "custom directive" syntax (or whatever it was in ST1) in terms of usability, IMO.

YAML is slightly better.

Anything that uses symbols rather than quoted string literals for keys would be a slight improvement. Like Ruby hashes, or even Javascript associative arrays, all of which are painlessly converted to JSON or other associative array structures.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I think this is a case where there's a benefit to eating the pain of conversion on the backend (from a proprietary syntax) for the sake of the user.

[Pwipwi]

Is the debate over already ?

I'd also like to throw in some support for YaML. After all, the resulting data type are the same, and not only do we avoid the { } hell, we also avoid the " " hell for property names.

Maybe would it be possible to at least give us the choice ? Like an option that says "Read .yml config files, then .json" or the inverse or so ?