YAML, originally known as Yet Another Markup Language, was later on renamed YAML Ain't Markup Language.

Do you need to know that?

No.

But I need to tell you that.

Anyways, it’s used to configure many popular tools like Docker Compose and Kubernetes.

And unlike JSON or XML, which use brackets and acorn for formatting, YAML uses space indentation.

To get started, create a .yml or .yaml file.

The point of a config file is to create key pair values.

So let’s do that.

This creates a key where the value is a string.

You can also wrap it with single or double quotes to make it explicit.

You can also create other data types (which is called scalars in YAML):

Just like what you do in other programming languages.

Cool.

But how do you create more complex data types like arrays or objects?

To create an object, which is called mapping, use a colon and spaces (usually two) for indentation.

This creates an object with three properties: air date, studio, and season.

To create an array, use a dash and a space.

For example

Last but not least, you can nest everything.

For example, to create an array inside an object, combine a dash and a colon.

This whole block is called a collection.

So, why do people use YAML over JSON (for configuration)?

This is an accurate depiction of YAML vs JSON:

This is what I mean:

The YAML version is just cleaner, more readable, and easier to write.

Which is not a surprise because it’s designed for human editing.

And you’ve just learnt everything you need to know to start writing YAML files.

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