Hacker News Reader

Comment by baq | Hacker News Reader

Your team doesn't know YAML, it knows github actions. There's zero transferable knowledge when switching from github actions to kubernetes deployments, as there is precisely the same zero correlation between kubernetes and ansible configs. 'It's all YAML' is a lie and I'm continuously surprised so many people are falling for it for so long. YAML is the code-as-data, but the interpreter determines what it all means.

View on HN

Oh, for goodness' sake. We know YAML syntax and that's the only part that's relevant here. Pointing out that different software uses different keys for their configuration or even takes different actions for keys that happen to share the same name isn't particularly insightful. We haven't been bamboozled.

I don’t understand even more now. If you freely admit they’re different languages, the only reason to keep using the stupid deficient syntax is momentum, and while it isn’t a bad reason, it is costing you and everyone else in the long run.

Huh? I'm using YAML because that's the language used to configure GitHub Actions. You may not like YAML, and that's fine. But if we collectively had to learn the unique way each project generates their GitHub Actions config, that would be a massive waste of time.

YAML isn't that hard. Most GitHub Actions configs I see are well under 500 lines; they're not crumbling under the weight of complexity.

Assembly isn't hard either and yet almost nobody is writing it anymore, for a reason, just as nobody (to an epsilon) is writing jvm opcodes directly. Somehow the industry decided assembly is actually fine when doing workflows.

I'm saying GHA should use a proper programming language instead of assembly.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com