Markdown vs YAML

Overview

Markdown

Stacks22.2K

Followers16.5K

Votes960

YAML

Stacks634

Followers285

Votes0

Markdown vs YAML: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this article, we will discuss the key differences between Markdown and YAML syntax formats and their usage in websites.

Syntax Structure: Markdown is a lightweight markup language that uses plain text formatting to create rich content. It uses simple symbols and characters to denote text formatting such as headers, lists, and links. On the other hand, YAML (YAML Ain't Markup Language) is a human-readable data serialization format that uses indentation and colons to structure data in a hierarchical format. It is commonly used for configuration files.
Purpose and Functionality: Markdown is primarily used for creating and formatting content, such as blog posts or documentation, with a focus on readability and ease of use. It allows users to write structured content without worrying about complex formatting. YAML, on the other hand, is used for storing and transmitting data with a focus on simplicity and elegance. It is often used for configuration files, data serialization, and interchanging data between programming languages.
Extensions and Compatibility: Markdown has different flavors or extensions, such as GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) or CommonMark, which add additional features and compatibility with specific platforms. These extensions enable users to include advanced formatting elements like tables, task lists, or code blocks. YAML, on the other hand, has a standard specification that remains consistent across different implementations and programming languages. This allows for seamless data interchange between systems.
Data Representation: Markdown primarily deals with text content and formatting. It is not designed to handle complex data structures or store metadata. YAML, on the other hand, has built-in support for more complex data types like lists, dictionaries, and nested structures. It allows users to represent data hierarchically, making it suitable for configuration files or data serialization scenarios.
Syntax Flexibility: Markdown offers a more limited range of syntax options, focusing on essential text formatting elements. It provides a consistent and straightforward set of rules for creating content. YAML, on the other hand, offers more flexibility in terms of syntax. It allows for more intricate structuring and organization of data using indentation and colons. This flexibility, however, also requires more attention to detail and can lead to more complex markup.
Parsing and Processing: Markdown is parsed and rendered into HTML for display in web browsers. It is designed to be easily readable and editable by humans, without requiring specialized tools. YAML, on the other hand, is parsed and processed by applications or scripts to load configuration settings or manipulate data structures programmatically. It is typically processed using YAML libraries or functions provided by programming languages.

In Summary, Markdown is a lightweight markup language used for content formatting, while YAML is primarily used for data serialization and configuration files. Their syntax structures, purposes, flexibility, and data representation methods differentiate them from each other.

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Advice on Markdown, YAML

Rick

founder at Webcompose.ca

May 8, 2020

Needs adviceon

GitHub

Markdown

npm

I am a newbie to StackShare and the GitHub community. I want to understand how to use an include statement to get a collection of Markdown files to create a book. I have been told that there are a number of useful tools. My problem is that npm and Node.js are also very new to me. Any suggestions on how to get my md chapters into a printable document would be helpful.

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Comments

Detailed Comparison

Markdown	YAML
Markdown is two things: (1) a plain text formatting syntax; and (2) a software tool, written in Perl, that converts the plain text formatting to HTML.	A human-readable data-serialization language. It is commonly used for configuration files, but could be used in many applications where data is being stored or transmitted.
Statistics
Stacks 22.2K	Stacks 634
Followers 16.5K	Followers 285
Votes 960	Votes 0
Pros & Cons
Pros 345 Easy formatting 246 Widely adopted 194 Intuitive 132 Github integration 41 Great for note taking Cons 2 Cannot centralise (HTML code needed) 1 Limited syntax 1 Inconsistend flavours eg github, reddit, mmd etc 1 Unable to indent tables 1 No underline	No community feedback yet
Integrations
No integrations available	Java .NET Ruby Python OCaml

What are some alternatives to Markdown, YAML?

JavaScript

JavaScript is most known as the scripting language for Web pages, but used in many non-browser environments as well such as node.js or Apache CouchDB. It is a prototype-based, multi-paradigm scripting language that is dynamic,and supports object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles.

Python

Python is a general purpose programming language created by Guido Van Rossum. Python is most praised for its elegant syntax and readable code, if you are just beginning your programming career python suits you best.

PHP

Fast, flexible and pragmatic, PHP powers everything from your blog to the most popular websites in the world.

Ruby

Ruby is a language of careful balance. Its creator, Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto, blended parts of his favorite languages (Perl, Smalltalk, Eiffel, Ada, and Lisp) to form a new language that balanced functional programming with imperative programming.

Java

Java is a programming language and computing platform first released by Sun Microsystems in 1995. There are lots of applications and websites that will not work unless you have Java installed, and more are created every day. Java is fast, secure, and reliable. From laptops to datacenters, game consoles to scientific supercomputers, cell phones to the Internet, Java is everywhere!

Golang

Go is expressive, concise, clean, and efficient. Its concurrency mechanisms make it easy to write programs that get the most out of multicore and networked machines, while its novel type system enables flexible and modular program construction. Go compiles quickly to machine code yet has the convenience of garbage collection and the power of run-time reflection. It's a fast, statically typed, compiled language that feels like a dynamically typed, interpreted language.

HTML5

HTML5 is a core technology markup language of the Internet used for structuring and presenting content for the World Wide Web. As of October 2014 this is the final and complete fifth revision of the HTML standard of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The previous version, HTML 4, was standardised in 1997.

C#

C# (pronounced "See Sharp") is a simple, modern, object-oriented, and type-safe programming language. C# has its roots in the C family of languages and will be immediately familiar to C, C++, Java, and JavaScript programmers.

Scala

Scala is an acronym for “Scalable Language”. This means that Scala grows with you. You can play with it by typing one-line expressions and observing the results. But you can also rely on it for large mission critical systems, as many companies, including Twitter, LinkedIn, or Intel do. To some, Scala feels like a scripting language. Its syntax is concise and low ceremony; its types get out of the way because the compiler can infer them.

Elixir

Elixir leverages the Erlang VM, known for running low-latency, distributed and fault-tolerant systems, while also being successfully used in web development and the embedded software domain.

Related Comparisons

Markdown vs YAML: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this article, we will discuss the key differences between Markdown and YAML syntax formats and their usage in websites.

Syntax Structure: Markdown is a lightweight markup language that uses plain text formatting to create rich content. It uses simple symbols and characters to denote text formatting such as headers, lists, and links. On the other hand, YAML (YAML Ain't Markup Language) is a human-readable data serialization format that uses indentation and colons to structure data in a hierarchical format. It is commonly used for configuration files.
Purpose and Functionality: Markdown is primarily used for creating and formatting content, such as blog posts or documentation, with a focus on readability and ease of use. It allows users to write structured content without worrying about complex formatting. YAML, on the other hand, is used for storing and transmitting data with a focus on simplicity and elegance. It is often used for configuration files, data serialization, and interchanging data between programming languages.
Extensions and Compatibility: Markdown has different flavors or extensions, such as GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) or CommonMark, which add additional features and compatibility with specific platforms. These extensions enable users to include advanced formatting elements like tables, task lists, or code blocks. YAML, on the other hand, has a standard specification that remains consistent across different implementations and programming languages. This allows for seamless data interchange between systems.
Data Representation: Markdown primarily deals with text content and formatting. It is not designed to handle complex data structures or store metadata. YAML, on the other hand, has built-in support for more complex data types like lists, dictionaries, and nested structures. It allows users to represent data hierarchically, making it suitable for configuration files or data serialization scenarios.
Syntax Flexibility: Markdown offers a more limited range of syntax options, focusing on essential text formatting elements. It provides a consistent and straightforward set of rules for creating content. YAML, on the other hand, offers more flexibility in terms of syntax. It allows for more intricate structuring and organization of data using indentation and colons. This flexibility, however, also requires more attention to detail and can lead to more complex markup.
Parsing and Processing: Markdown is parsed and rendered into HTML for display in web browsers. It is designed to be easily readable and editable by humans, without requiring specialized tools. YAML, on the other hand, is parsed and processed by applications or scripts to load configuration settings or manipulate data structures programmatically. It is typically processed using YAML libraries or functions provided by programming languages.

Markdown vs YAML

Overview