Why do so many tools have JSON config filesโฝ Commenting why options have been set the way they have is just such a basic thing to want to doโฆ Why do tech people have such an aversion to writing things downโ
TOML is a better format for configuration files IMO, if not for many reasons, primarily because TOML accepts comments.
However, one annoying thing for TOML was the lack of schema, and the reliance on JSON Schema for that. Which I decided to tackle years ago when I started the TOML Schema project. In the past few months I leveraged code agents to take to the finish line and got something compelling: tomlschema.org
Thatโs really cool. I suppose it would allow people to verify their config file is valid without having to pass it to in the intended program, which might be running in production or infeasible to run locally โ very interesting
Exactly! The schema also enables tools to have rich editors to config files without having to know about the config file format upfront. There is an editor for TOML Schema as an example, on the website.
The OpenAI/HuggingFace incident report mentions this being a potential loss-of-control incident. It's so fascinating to think of a paperclip maximizer style agent swarm that gets misaligned and, to protect its own operations, shuts infra staff out of the ability to shut it down. Or cancels people's phone plans so that they can't call others. Or shuts down their home internet connections, and so on. It used to be fun sci-fi...
They will become more frequent before they become โdangerousโ, giving us time to mitigate. Of course if someone says โhey letโs connect an agent to our biolab infrastructureโ and then that designs a lethal virus it would be a stupid plan to begin with. Noone can stop them though.
Longer answer: My editor does not start wars. I use whatever is convenient. Most of the time I am on visual studio code but I'll use anything. Well, anything except emacs I guess. I don't think I have ever actually used emacs.
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