18 Sep, 2025
We have all been there. Your software keeps growing and you feel the need to make it customizable. It is too soon for a full-blown UI with all the bells and whistles, so your pragmatic instinct suggests a text-based configuration file. Yes, that’s exactly it!
You rejoice knowing the software’s configuration will be trivial to version control. Your pragmatic instinct is satisfied as well; the door remains open to creating a proper UI later, since it would be merely a graphical view of your configuration’s structured data. The future is bright!
Now, which language should you pick for your glorious configuration file? It needs to be user-friendly, so people can inspect it and modify it with ease. JSON springs immediately to your mind, but the abundance of brackets and the lack of comments give you pause. TOML maybe? You are afraid it might be too minimal for your needs. Rolling your own language? Too impractical.
YAML
A forbidden spark lights inside your head. Any attempts to put it out are futile. It grows and grows until it finally stands ablaze before you, tempting you with its warmth: why not YAML? Yes, YAML, which is so pleasant to the eye and widely used across the industry. How could you say no to that?
Shivers run down your spine as you remember the yaml document from hell. So often have you been warned about YAML’s deceptive simplicity! It’s a traitorous mask, your elders said, behind which a dark being lurks. Don’t ever come near, it will swallow your soul when you least expect it.
And yet… could YAML indeed be the pragmatic solution in this particular case? We are talking about a small configuration file here. What could possibly go wrong? Surely the gods of software wouldn’t punish you for this offense? How could they ask you to swim against the current, when even renowned projects such as Kubernetes use YAML pervasively?
Trembling, you stretch your hand towards the forbidden fruit, reap it and take a good bite. The flavor of instant productivity fills your mouth with delight and you feel confirmed in your choice. Why did you even doubt? After a few code changes your software is configurable through a YAML file. The dopamine surge overwhelms you, and you put the icing on the cake by adding an example configuration to the project’s readme.
But alas, superficial satisfaction cannot last. As the years go by, the sweet flavor in your mouth turns bitter. Your software has grown. The once simple configuration file now spans more than a hundred lines. Yes, the file is pleasant to look at, but modifying it is nothing short of miserable. Why did you disregard ancient wisdom? In silence, you mourn your lost innocence and the fallen state of humanity.
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