So what's the author's proposed alternative?
IMHO JSON5 (JSON with comments basically) is fine for config files, VS Code is using this and they seem to be doing alright.
Addressing the article's points:
- Lack of comments: not an issue with JSON5.
- Readability: I think it's pretty readable. Are the quotes, semicolons and commas really an issue? Not for me.
- Strictness: just edit it with an editor that points at the errors quickly. Escaping quotes might be annoying, but I can't think of a possible alternative format where escaping isn't required at all.
- Lack of programmability: I've never had any problem with this, and again pretty complex and customizable applications like VS Code seem to be doing fine without this. This may even be considered a feature, as it forces you to keep the configuration well separated from the actual logic.
IMHO JSON5 (JSON with comments basically) is fine for config files, VS Code is using this and they seem to be doing alright.
Addressing the article's points:
- Lack of comments: not an issue with JSON5.
- Readability: I think it's pretty readable. Are the quotes, semicolons and commas really an issue? Not for me.
- Strictness: just edit it with an editor that points at the errors quickly. Escaping quotes might be annoying, but I can't think of a possible alternative format where escaping isn't required at all.
- Lack of programmability: I've never had any problem with this, and again pretty complex and customizable applications like VS Code seem to be doing fine without this. This may even be considered a feature, as it forces you to keep the configuration well separated from the actual logic.