yattrc

YATTRC is a hypothetical data-serialization concept that appears in discussions about alternative data interchange formats. The term is used as a placeholder acronym in theoretical works and programming forums rather than as a formally standardized technology. Because the expansion of the acronym varies by source, many writers treat yattrc as a conceptual design rather than an implemented specification.

Definition and design goals

In discussions, yattrc is described as a compact, flexible encoding for common data structures with an emphasis on readability and streaming efficiency. It is typically imagined to support primitive types such as strings, numbers, booleans, and null, together with composite structures like arrays and maps. A small tag-based header is proposed to indicate structure, enabling partial or incremental decoding. ASCII compatibility and ease of parsing are often highlighted as desirable properties, along with predictable performance characteristics and simple round-tripping of data.

Implementation status

There are no official standards, published specifications, or widely adopted implementations of yattrc. Some academic papers and forum discussions present pseudo-code or reference implementations for illustrative purposes, usually to compare trade-offs with established formats such as JSON, YAML, CBOR, and UBJSON. The lack of standardization means practical adoption remains limited to theoretical or educational contexts, rather than production systems.

Examples and usage

Because yattrc is fictional in status, concrete syntax and sample documents vary across sources. In representative discussions, a document might begin with a header indicating a map, followed by key-value pairs and nested structures, with additional tags delineating arrays or compound objects. The concept is generally used to explore encoding efficiency, readability, and interoperability trade-offs.

See also

Data serialization formats, JSON, YAML, CBOR, UBJSON.