o3o/sdl.net

Porting to C# of Simple Declarative Language

An SDL (Simple Declarative Language) library for C#.

The Simple Declarative Language provides an easy way to describe lists, maps, and trees of typed data in a compact, easy to read representation. The simple and intuitive API allows you to read, write, and access all the datastructures using a single class. For property files, configuration files, logs, and simple serialization requirements, SDL provides a compelling alternative to XML and Properties files. Implementations are available for Java and .NET; a port to C++ is in the works, with more languages on the way.

This is what SDL looks like (some of these examples, and more, are from the SDL site):

first "Joe"
last "Coder"

numbers 12 53 2 635
names "Sally" "Frank N. Stein"
pets chihuahua="small" dalmation="hyper" mastiff="big"

mixed 34.7f "Tim" somedate=2010/08/14

folder "myFiles" color="yellow" protection=on {
    folder "my images" {
        file "myHouse.jpg" color=true date=2005/11/05
        file "myCar.jpg" color=false date=2002/01/05
    }
    folder "my documents" {
        document "resume.pdf"
    }
}

Tags are of this form:

[tag name] [values] [attributes] [children]

Tag and attribute names can optionally include a namespace prefix (ie, namespace:name). All parts are optional, the only exception being that an anonymous (ie, no name) tag must have at least one value.

Also:

• Tags are separated by either newline or semicolon.
• Whitespace and indentation is not significant (other than newlines).
• The line-continuation operator is \ (backslash). This can be used to split a tag across multiple lines.
• Line comments start with either #, // or --.
• Block comments start with /* and end with */.

Documentation

• SDL site):
• License