Why? The number one issue I have with writing plugins is the plugin.yml file. Compared to that the Java part is a piece of cake. It gets to the point where I have to configure plugins myself for server admins because the YML breaks randomly. It is just so stupidly strict. C++ and Java are good examples of non strict languages, they have a proper structure and thanks to that they don't have to be strict. YML on the other hand depends on spaces to try and understand what is happening. It just seems silly.
we use YAML because its easy and powerefull what you can do whit it, it dont break random as you say, and it also need enters and spaces, not only spaces
It's good because there are very few control characters, so you don't have to worry about matching up brackets or anything like that. For a not-so-exprienced user it looks like a list, and lists are simple You don't have to use it in your plugin either, you could use any config file format you like.
along this vein, are there any good yml tutorials? i need a good package for editing yml and snakeyaml confuses the hell outta me. what do you guys use? should i just use snakeyaml?
Build your yml file up slowly, and use something like http://yaml-online-parser.appspot.com/ to validate it as you go. (It'll throw up an error soon as you do something wrong)
I had issues with yml too when I started plugin development, because of how I wanted it to be structured. Hence, I used JSON at that time (the gson parser is included in craftbukkit btw). JSON is working fine, might just not be as easy for the enduser as you'd think.
JSON and XML are both superior to YAML in my opinion, but YAML can be ridiculously easy to edit if you know how to do it without syntax errors.
We use YAML because it can be read by the naked eye. Like what Jacek said, it would be like trying to understand another language (e.g Mandarin) without any prior knowledge. A more sophisticated example is would you rather talk to someone who spoke a different language then you, or talk to someone who speaks and understands the same language as you.
Hardly the open source spirit. I'm not saying it breaks randomly, rather that it is near impossible to see what you have done wrong at a glance as I can do with C++ for example. As someone who frequents the server admin forum at least half the errors I've seen are YAML related. I know a beginner server admin, and the first thing he said when I was explaining the difference between "strict" languages (C++, Java, etc) and "loose" languages (Python, LUA, etc) was how much he hated YML for not having some structure. Personally the output the online YAML parser gives is what I would like to use (maybe with out the ""). Many editors also fail when handling YAML, which is why I stick to Notepad++ (but remember many end users use other text editors, Apple's text edit for example seems to display HTML web pages, not the code when you load .html files- I hate to think what it would do with YAML).
You can't really compare YAML with C++ or Java. YAML is a markup language, not a programming language. And please, C++ and Java are both plenty strict, if you have a parenthesis or bracket out of place it won't work. If you want to do a comparison, compare YAML with JSON or XML. Those are valid comparisons. And both of those are just as strict. If you don't follow the rules exactly, they will break, just like YAML.
Aside from the plugin.yml (which the end user should rarely mess with), you're not forced to use YAML while developing. And aside from commands, and permissions there isn't a whole lot to mess up in the plugin.yml
Also, what exactly do you mean by "strict" and "loose" languages? Didn't you say that C++ and Java aren't strict, but now you're saying they are? Also, YML does have structure, plenty of it. Isn't that what you were complaining about in the first place?
Leaving aside the fact that you did in fact say it breaks randomly, of course it's not impossible to see what you've done wrong. What you mean is that you don't understand YAML well enough to see. It just takes a little experience with YAML to get the hang of it - as languages go, it's really not that hard to pick up. Look, someone had to make a choice about what format configuration files would be, and they (the Bukkit team) chose YAML. Not XML, not JSON. So that's what we use. If you don't like it, feel free to contribute some code to Bukkit to read plugin.xml, plugin.json or whatever. And I'm sure a PR which added a JsonConfiguration or XmlConfiguration class (just extend FileConfiguration) would be well-received. Stop complaining, start coding
