Re: Jason is getting MARRIED!

From: Robert Ramey (ramey_at_[hidden])
Date: 2019-11-17 19:58:59

On 11/17/19 11:41 AM, James E. King III via Boost wrote:
> On Sun, Nov 17, 2019 at 11:06 AM Robert Ramey via Boost

>> Human editable archives are something people ask for.  But it's not
>> really possible in a general way because archives have to reflect the
>> the C++ data structures that they correspond to.  If one want's to be
>> able to edit data off line - better would be to start with a free
>> standing archive design using something like google protocol buffers.
>> Then you're into the normal trade offs regarding such libraries.
>>
> 
> Since you already support JSON, if you supported YAML as well, you would
> satisfy the human editable request.

Hmmm - did you read the above?  Of course serialization could support 
JSON, YAML, or even some version of the english language.  But this 
would not mean the the archive is editable unless it's write only. The 
problem is that the archive contents are strictly dependent upon the C++ 
data structures being serialized.  If you edit the archive in a general 
way, that is not necessarily preserving the original structure, it won't 
map the the C++ data structure.  So what would be the point?  If you 
restrict your editing to some specific requirements - like just changing 
some data values - it would be pretty complex to specify and enforce 
which kinds of editing are allowed.  Much easier would be just to write 
a general purpose JSON parser which the user can one way or another map 
to his C++ data structure.

> 
> - Jim
> 
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