YAMLn

YAMLn is a hypothetical data serialization format inspired by YAML. Its core design principle is to offer a more human-readable and less verbose alternative to traditional data formats while retaining the expressiveness of YAML. The "n" in YAMLn is intended to suggest a "next generation" or "native" approach to data representation, focusing on simplicity and ease of use.

YAMLn aims to reduce syntactic overhead. This might involve simplifying or removing certain characters or keywords commonly found in YAML, such as colons or explicit hyphens for list items, opting for indentation and whitespace more heavily. The goal is to make the structure of the data immediately apparent to a human reader without requiring them to parse complex syntax.

While YAMLn would likely support common data types like strings, numbers, booleans, lists, and maps (key-value pairs), its serialization rules would be designed for clarity. For instance, nested structures might be represented purely through indentation levels, eliminating the need for explicit block indicators in many cases. Error handling and parsing would be considered to ensure that the increased reliance on whitespace does not lead to ambiguity.

The potential applications for YAMLn could include configuration files, inter-process communication, and data exchange where human readability is a paramount concern. However, as a conceptual format, its adoption would depend on the development of parsers and its perceived advantages over existing formats like YAML, JSON, and TOML.