JSON

JSON is the lingua franca of data interchange. STYX is designed for human authoring, not machine interchange, which leads to different trade-offs.

Simple object

json

{
  "name": "alice",
  "age": 30
}

styx

name alice
age 30

json

{
  "server": {
    "host": "localhost",
    "port": 8080,
    "tls": {
      "enabled": true,
      "cert": "/path/to/cert.pem"
    }
  }
}

styx

server {
  host localhost
  port 8080
  tls {
    enabled true
    cert /path/to/cert.pem
  }
}

json

{
  "features": ["auth", "logging", "metrics"]
}

styx

features (auth logging metrics)

json

{
  "timeout": null
}

styx

timeout @

json

{ "name": "alice" }

styx

name alice

json

{
  "port": 8080
}

styx

port 8080  // default HTTP port

json

{ "count": 42, "label": "42" }

styx

count 42
label 42

In STYX, both are the scalar 42. The deserializer interprets based on target type.

json

{
  "server": {
    "host": "localhost",
    "port": 8080
  }
}

styx

server host=localhost port=8080