Clear Silver Hierarchical Data Format

ClearSilver's HierarchicalDataFormat (HDF) -- one of the AlternativesToXml

See: http://www.clearsilver.net/docs/man_hdf.hdf

Examples:

"It supports two different syntax for representing the dataset hierarchy which can be intermixed arbitrarily. The first is a simple dotted path scheme:


        Page.Name = My Index

        Page.URL = /myindex.html

        Page.Menu.0 = Home

        Page.Menu.1 = Preferences

        Page.Menu.2 = Help

        Page.Menu.3 = Support

"The second is a nested elements scheme:


        Page {

        Name = My Index

        URL = /myindex.html

        Menu {

= Home
= Preferences
= Help
= Support


        }

        }

A few more small examples at http://www.clearsilver.net/docs/compare_w_xmlxslt.hdf

Compare to YamlAintMarkupLanguage.

Looks like Java '.properties' files -- morphed into something close to JavaScriptObjectNotation (JSON) or Python native data, to me. -- JeffGrigg

Questions from the AlternativesToXml page:

Is it really a significant product offering for WebProgramming?

I don't understand how clearsilver is an alternative to XML. It's certainly a way of working with XML, and I suppose it could displace some uses of XML, but it's in no way an XML equivalent.
- The Clearsilver templating system library is primarily intended for support and manipulation of HTML and XML. Its "HDF" ("Hierarchical Data Format") is an alternative to XML.