Topic

Tooling

Clients, formatters, linters and CLIs worth installing. Small tools that save hours.

YAML

A Cheat Sheet of YAML Syntax for Everyday Config Files

One page of YAML syntax: scalars, quoting, collections, block strings, anchors, documents, comments and the values that change type. Copy-ready snippets.

6 min read

YAML

YAML 1.1 Versus 1.2 and Why the Difference Really Matters

The same 33 scalar values loaded by a 1.1 parser and a 1.2 parser: booleans, octal, base 60 and floats. Which libraries implement which, and how to stay safe.

5 min read

XML

Sorting XML Elements for Stable Output and Clean Diffs

Sort XML records by a key with XSLT or lxml so two exports of the same data produce the same file, including numeric keys and nested children.

6 min read

XML

Merging XML Config Files in Git Without Manual Conflicts

Two branches each add a dependency to the same pom.xml and Git reports a conflict. See why, then use the union merge driver and a manual rule that works.

6 min read

XML

Detecting Structure Changes in an XML Feed Over Time

A feed renamed price to cost and the loader kept running with empty columns. A short script compares element path snapshots and reports the change.

6 min read

XML

Pretty Printing XML for Cleaner Git History and Reviews

A one-line XML file turns every change into one giant diff. Two ways to fix it, a textconv diff driver and a formatted file in the repo, with real output.

7 min read

XML

Diffing XML Ignoring Attribute Order and Layout Noise

Make a line diff of two XML files show real changes only, by canonicalizing both sides, then use xmldiff when you need structural edit actions.

6 min read

XML

Canonical XML and Why Your Diffs Need It Before Comparing

Three XML files with the same meaning gave three different checksums. Canonical XML (C14N) fixes attribute order and quoting, but not whitespace.

6 min read

JSON

Fixtures in JSON for Database Tests With PostgreSQL

Load JSON fixtures into PostgreSQL for tests with jsonb_populate_recordset: 25,000 rows in 0.21 s, bad fixtures caught by constraints, one typo missed.

6 min read

JSON

Contract Testing JSON APIs With an OpenAPI Schema Tool

Test a JSON API against its OpenAPI contract with Schemathesis: 1,903 generated requests found a 500 and undocumented statuses, and missed one bug.

6 min read

YAML

YAML Null Values and the Empty String Question Answered

Six ways to write null in YAML, how they differ from the empty string, and what a key with no value, an empty list and an absent key mean to your code.

6 min read

YAML

Comments in YAML and What Parsers Do With Them in Practice

YAML allows comments with a hash, but most parsers throw them away when they load and save. What survives a round trip in PyYAML, ruamel.yaml and yq.

6 min read

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