YAML

YAML, which stands for "YAML Ain't Markup Language" (a recursive acronym), is a human-readable data serialization format. It is commonly used for configuration files and data exchange between languages with different data structures.

YAML is broadly used in various programming environments and applications, particularly in scenarios where human readability and simplicity are important. YAML is designed to be easily readable by humans. Its syntax is straightforward, making it a preferred choice for writing configuration files.

YAML can represent scalars (like strings, integers, floats), lists (arrays), and associative arrays (hashes or dictionaries). It uses indentation (spaces) to represent hierarchy, which helps in visually understanding the data structure.

YAML is language-independent and can be used with any programming language that has a YAML parsing and emitting library, such as [[Python]], [[Ruby]], [[PHP]], [[Java]], [[JavaScript]], and others.

YAML is extensively used in configuration files of systems and applications due to its simplicity and ease of use. It’s notably used in [[Docker Compose]], [[Kubernetes]], [[Ansible]], and many other DevOps tools. YAML is a superset of [[JavaScript Object Notation|JSON]], meaning JSON files are also valid YAML. This makes it interoperable with systems that use JSON.

Unlike JSON, YAML supports comments, making it more convenient for documenting the purpose or reason behind certain configurations. YAML can represent complex data structures, making it suitable for a wide range of applications beyond simple configuration, including data serialization and inter-process communication.

While YAML is more readable than [[Extensible Markup Language|XML]] or JSON for complex data structures, it can be prone to errors due to its reliance on indentation and formatting, which needs careful handling.