Nestandard

Nestandard is a term used to describe a family of standards and conventions for handling nested data and components in information systems. It is not a single official standard. The concept emphasizes consistent representation, naming, serialization, validation, and evolution of nested structures across software boundaries.

Origin and usage: The term arises in discussions of data interchange, configuration management, and API design where nested data complicates integration. Different communities have proposed their own nestandard-like conventions, often aligned with existing formats such as JSON, YAML, or XML, but with shared practices for nesting depth, path-based addressing, and versioning.

Key elements: Clear naming schemes for nested elements; path-based or hierarchical addressing to locate nested items; rules for nesting limits and recursion handling; mechanisms for referencing and inlining nested components; strategies for forward and backward compatibility; tooling support for schema generation, validation, transformation, and documentation.

Contexts: Nestandard concepts appear in software engineering, data modeling, configuration systems, and API design. Examples include nested schemas for data interchange formats, nested configuration trees, and modular component hierarchies in service-oriented architectures. While not universally codified, adopters seek interoperability by following common patterns such as explicit paths, explicit types, and stable identifiers.

Criticism and status: Because nestandard is not centralized, implementations vary and can hinder cross-project compatibility if rules diverge. Proponents argue that it clarifies complex structures and reduces integration friction, while detractors caution against over-standardization.

See also: data interchange formats, JSON, YAML, XML, schema validation, API design, data modeling.