Question 1

How to parse a YAML file with yaml-cpp?

Accepted Answer

Use the Node or Document API from the library; refer to the official tutorial on the project's wiki for step-by-step examples on loading files and accessing nested data structures.

Question 2

yaml-cpp vs rapidjson for C++ configuration?

Accepted Answer

yaml-cpp handles YAML with full spec support including comments and complex types, while rapidjson is for JSON. Choose yaml-cpp if you need YAML-specific features, but JSON is faster and lighter for simple data.

Question 3

How to install yaml-cpp on Windows without CMake?

Accepted Answer

It's not straightforward; the library is designed around CMake, so you'd need to manually build or find pre-compiled binaries, which are less common and may not integrate easily into non-CMake projects.

Question 4

Is yaml-cpp thread-safe for concurrent parsing?

Accepted Answer

The README doesn't explicitly guarantee thread safety; for multi-threaded use, you likely need to implement external synchronization, as parsing operations might not be inherently safe across threads.

Question 5

How to migrate from yaml-cpp 0.3.x to the new API?

Accepted Answer

Check the release notes and wiki for version 0.5.0 onwards; the new API uses different classes like Node instead of the old iterator-based approach, requiring code updates and testing.

Question 6

What's the performance impact of using yaml-cpp vs a custom parser?

Accepted Answer

yaml-cpp's full YAML 1.2 compliance can introduce overhead compared to minimal parsers, especially for large files, but it trades speed for reliability and standard adherence.

yaml-cpp

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