The Dead-Simple Object Notation (DSON) is a format for simpler data interchange.

Preface

JSON is the only human-readable format to serving well for the purpose of describing complex, nested data structures. YAML and TOML are a better choice for configuration purposes rather than for interchanging object instances.

Unluckily, the JSON format inherits from Javascript. It is quite wordy due to the ubiquitous double quotes. In certain situations, JSON brings unneeded complexity with its built-in types. On top of that, the JSON format does not allow comments.

The Dead-Simple Object Notation (DSON) is a data interchange format intended to be intuitive, forgiving and human-readable. The standard attempts to define the simplest possible interchange format yet enough to describe complex nested structures.

{
  'Is DSON simple?' = true, # Indeed
  rules = [
    "Non-ASCII, control (< %x20), quotes \
      and whitespace characters must be quoted",
  ]
}