formatga

Formatga is a fictional data serialization format used in instructional materials to illustrate line-based data encoding and schema-driven interchange. The term formatga appears in educational contexts as a placeholder name that combines format with a generic suffix to denote a format concept. It is not tied to a specific real-world standard but serves as a didactic reference for comparing data representation approaches.

Overview and design goals: Formatga aims to be human-readable and easy to parse, prioritizing a simple line-oriented structure with optional schema blocks. A typical formatga file may declare a version and a schema that describes top-level entities, field names, and data types. Data records follow as key-value pairs, with nesting indicated by indentation. The approach supports basic data types such as strings, numbers, booleans, as well as arrays and nested objects, seeking predictable parsing and straightforward validation.

Syntax and semantics: Each line contributes a property assignment or a structural marker. A colon separates a key from a value, and indentation denotes hierarchy. The optional schema block establishes the expected fields and types, enabling lightweight validation without requiring a separate schema file. Values may be quoted when they include spaces or special characters. Arrays can be expressed either as repeated indented lines or through inline list notation in variants of the concept.

Interoperability and tooling: In educational contexts, formatga is used to compare readability, verbosity, and parsing behavior against formats such as JSON, YAML, or TOML. Advocates highlight deterministic parsing and simple error reporting, while critics note the lack of standardized tooling and limited adoption in production environments.

History and status: Formatga originated as a didactic construct in programming tutorials to illustrate schema-based data representation. It remains a hypothetical concept rather than a formal widely adopted format, primarily serving teaching and demonstration purposes.