YAML (YAML Ain't Markup Language)
A lightweight human-readable format used in server and hosting configuration files, valued for simplicity, flexibility, and readability.
YAML, which recursively stands for YAML Ain't Markup Language, is a human-friendly data serialisation format commonly used for configuration files in hosting environments, deployment scripts, and application settings. Its clean, indentation-based syntax makes it easy to read and write compared to more verbose formats like XML or JSON, while still being powerful enough to represent complex data structures. In web hosting, you'll encounter YAML in Docker configurations, Kubernetes deployments, CI/CD pipelines, static site generators like Jekyll, and various application configuration files. YAML uses simple key-value pairs, lists, and nested structures defined by indentation rather than brackets or tags, making configuration files more approachable for both humans and machines. However, its sensitivity to whitespace and indentation requires careful formatting to avoid errors. Many modern hosting platforms and development tools have adopted YAML as their preferred configuration format because it strikes an excellent balance between readability, expressiveness, and ease of use.
