From: why the lucky stiff <ruby-talk@...>
Date: 2003-05-08T08:25:28+09:00
Subject: [ANN] Syck 0.25 + YAML.rb -- Objects in plain-text

..my faithful friends..

Syck 0.25 is here.  This means that YAML.rb has been integrated with the
Syck code.  A bit more testing and bugfixing and we should have a stable
YAML.rb with a very swift parser at last!

(Thanks to all of those who have shown such tremendous support recently.
I get such sugary emails that glucose deposits have formed around the
edges of my monitor and sparkle like teeth on Christmas!)  Especially
helpful have been the votes of support for YAML in Ruby 1.8.  If you'd
like to vote, see http://www.rubygarden.org/ruby?YamlInRubyPetition --
feel free to link to images of your legal and binding signature for
extra zeal points.

Okay, then.  Release notes below.  Cheerio.

---
released: { name: Syck, version: 0.25 }
for: [ Ruby, PHP, Python ]
by: why the lucky stiff
about: >

  Syck is a YAML parser, an extension for scripting
  languages, written in C.  

  So what is YAML?  YAML is a new language for data.
  Describe objects in plain text.  Load the data into
  your scripting language as arrays, dictionaries,
  classes, or primitives.

links:
  YAML: http://www.yaml.org/
  YAML Cookbook: http://yaml4r.sf.net/cookbook/
  YAML Type Repository: http://yaml.org/type/
  YAML Specification: http://yaml.org/spec/
  Syck: http://www.whytheluckystiff.net/syck/
  Syck Benchmarks: http://www.whytheluckystiff.net/arch/2003/03/19
  Tarball @ SourceForge: http://aleron.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/yaml4r/syck-0.25.tar.gz

status: >

  Syck is about 80% compliant with the YAML spec.  Syck currently
  has a few issues with type families before an mapping.  I've also
  noticed some whitespace issues.  The seq-in-map shortcut is not
  yet supported.

  The extensions are quite usable, though.  Ruby, PHP and Python
  can load from a string containing YAML.  Ruby also has support
  for stream loading from any IO object.

  This release also introduces the YAML.rb 0.50 source code into
  the Ruby extension.  Which means: YPath, emitting, Okay.

benchmarks: >

  Syck is quite speedy, although not as swift as most language's
  native serialization.

  Syck runs at about:

  30-35% of the speed of Ruby's Marshal.
  35-90% of the speed of PHP's deserialize().
  600% of the speed of Python's Pickle.
  33-40% of the speed of Python's cPickle.

  (Based on various types of structured data.)

installation: >

  Syck contains working extensions for the Ruby, PHP, and Python
  languages.  Each requires compilation of the libsyck library,
  followed by compilation of the extension.

  To compile libsyck, first download libsyck.

    tar xzvf syck-0.25.tar.gz
    cd syck-0.25
    ./configure
    make
    sudo make install

  To install the Ruby extension:

    cd ext/ruby
    ruby install.rb config
    ruby install.rb setup
    sudo ruby install.rb install

  To install the Python extension:

    cd ext/python
    python setup.py build
    sudo python setup.py install

  To install the PHP extension:

    sh make_module.sh
    sudo make install (if you weren't root during make_module.sh)
    php -q syck.php

examples: |

  To load this document in Ruby: 

     ($:~)$ irb
     >> require 'syck'
     => true
     >> yp = YAML::Syck::Parser.new( {} )
     => #<YAML::Syck::Parser:0x8058530>
     >> yp.load( File.open( 'syck-0.25.yml' ) )
     => {"status"=>"Syck is about 60% compliant ..."}

  To load this document in PHP: 

     ($:~)$ php -a
     Interactive mode enabled

     <? dl( 'syck.so' ); print_r( syck_load( implode( '', file( 'syck-0.25.yml' ) ) ) ); ?>
  
     .. php then outputs ..

     X-Powered-By: PHP/4.2.3
     Content-type: text/html
     
     Array
     (   
         [released] => Array
             (   
                 [name] => Syck
                 [version] => 0.25
             )

     .. and so on ..

  To load this document in Python: 

     ($:~)$ python
     Python 2.1.3 (#1, Jul 11 2002, 17:52:24) 
     [GCC 2.95.3 20010315 (release) [FreeBSD]] on freebsd4
     Type "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
     >>> import syck
     >>> f = open( 'syck-0.25.yml' )
     >>> syck.load( f.read() )
     {'by': 'why the lucky stiff', ... }