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YAML isn't a markup language, and it doesn't claim to be. The name stands for YAML Ain't Markup Language.

Except it originally stood for "Yet Another Markup Language"[1], and the newer name only means to separate it from HTML and other document-oriented markup languages.

[1] http://yaml.org/spec/history/2001-08-01.html

Ah, I wasn't aware of the old name, thanks!

Ah, I hadn't heard of the retcon :) It was oirignally Yet Another Markup Language http://yaml.org/spec/history/2001-12-10.html That's why it's YAML, not AAML, BAML, CAML, etc.

In any case, yaml.org currently describes it as "human friendly data serialization".

I don't think YAML is a bad choice, but HOCON's explicit focus on configuration yields some nice benefits.

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