Nobody has invented a new data interchange format in a really long while

I mostly use this blog to complain about things. Maybe I'm just generally cranky, but mainly I think being annoyed about things motivates me to write in a way that positive or neutral feelings don't. But anyway, today I'd like to talk about something good, a pleasant improvement in the software field.

Nobody has invented a new data interchange format in a really long time. Or, if they have, they've been rightfully ignored by the rest of the world, and I've never found out about it.

Look, JSON isn't perfect. It has its drawbacks. The same applies to YAML. CSV is perfectly fine for certain use cases. XML is honestly... well, no one likes working with XML, but as a method to store structured or semi-structured data, it works tolerably well. We all dislike XML because for reasons that are not necessarily inherent to the specifics of its implementation, the generally worst people in the industry are the most likely people to implement it. But I assure you, from experience, if those people try to write JSON instead it will be just as atrocious.

The fact that the industry has roughly 4 general-purpose data formats, all of which are commonly used, also means that just about any modern framework or tooling can handle data in those formats with a minimum of fuss. This is something we take for granted I think but it's very easy to imagine a world where everybody's API returns data in a different bespoke and/or proprietary protocol. That would be terrible!

Think about the various machine config files you have to deal with sometimes because they're embedded legacies from before data formats standardized. Operating systems are full of files like this! That's just the way the world used to be!

So anyway, I for one am very happy, now that I've thought about it, to live in a world of standardized data formats. It is nice to know that sometimes, technological progress happens, and it makes our lives easier. Maybe there's hope out there after all--perhaps one day we will live in a world where all authentication protocols are properly standardized. A man can dream right?