RFC: Anchors, References, Extend

[f3l1x]

Prologue

I'd like to propose a new NEON features. I named them anchors, references, extend. It basically came from YAML (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YAML#Syntax, https://blog.daemonl.com/2016/02/yaml.html).

When you are using NEON in nette-like applications, you are probably using it for service definitions. I consider current syntax as complete and don't miss anything.

However, when you are using NEON as standalone tool for some kind of definition schema, I found myself to miss some features like extending and referencing. I have 1000+ rows in one NEON file and DRY principle comes very handy in here.

Anchors & References

YAML

foo: &anchor
 K1: "One"
 K2: "Two"

bar: *anchor

Result

{
    "foo": {
        "K1": "One",
        "K2": "Two"
    },
    "bar": {
        "K1": "One",
        "K2": "Two"
    }
}

NEON

# A
foo: &anchor
bar: *anchor

# B
foo: &(anchor)
bar: $(anchor)

# C
foo: =$(anchor)
bar: $(anchor)

& and * has no special meaning in NEON, am I right?

Extending

YAML

foo: &anchor
  K1: "One"
  K2: "Two"

bar:
  <<: *anchor
  K2: "I Changed"
  K3: "Three"

Result

{
    "foo": {
        "K1": "One",
        "K2": "Two"
    },
    "bar": {
        "K1": "One",
        "K2": "I Changed",
        "K3": "Three"
    }
}

NEON

# A
foo: # depends on anchor 
bar: <<$anchor

# B
foo: # depends on anchor
bar: ...$anchor

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It's an idea of adding extra features to NEON. Maybe someone think the same way. Thanks for a feedback.

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List of resources

• https://ne-on.org/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YAML#Syntax
• https://blog.daemonl.com/2016/02/yaml.html
• https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/yaml
• http://blogs.perl.org/users/tinita/2019/05/reusing-data-with-yaml-anchors-aliases-and-merge-keys.html

[dg]

I have to say, I don't like this about YAML at all.

• I feel like this doesn't belong in a text format. It's like asking a *.txt file to spell check.
• The syntax is completely unintuitive and I wouldn't be able to write it without documentation.

So let me ask you the other way around. What do you need it for?