CSON

CoffeeScript-Object-Notation. Same as JSON but for CoffeeScript objects.

Projects using CSON.

Projects using CSON Parser directly.

Since v2, this CSON package is a higher-level wrapper around the lower-level CSON Parser.

What is CSON?

Everyone knows JSON, it's the thing that looks like this:

{
  "greatDocumentaries": [
    "earthlings.com",
    "forksoverknives.com",
    "cowspiracy.com"
  ],
  "importantFacts": {
    "emissions": "Livestock and their byproducts account for at least 32,000 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, or 51% of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.\nGoodland, R Anhang, J. “Livestock and Climate Change: What if the key actors in climate change were pigs, chickens and cows?”\nWorldWatch, November/December 2009. Worldwatch Institute, Washington, DC, USA. Pp. 10–19.\nhttp://www.worldwatch.org/node/6294",
    "landuse": "Livestock covers 45% of the earth’s total land.\nThornton, Phillip, Mario Herrero, and Polly Ericksen. “Livestock and Climate Change.” Livestock Exchange, no. 3 (2011).\nhttps://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/10601/IssueBrief3.pdf",
    "burger": "One hamburger requires 660 gallons of water to produce – the equivalent of 2 months’ worth of showers.\nCatanese, Christina. “Virtual Water, Real Impacts.” Greenversations: Official Blog of the U.S. EPA. 2012.\nhttp://blog.epa.gov/healthywaters/2012/03/virtual-water-real-impacts-world-water-day-2012/\n“50 Ways to Save Your River.” Friends of the River.\nhttp://www.friendsoftheriver.org/site/PageServer?pagename=50ways",
    "milk": "1,000 gallons of water are required to produce 1 gallon of milk.\n“Water trivia facts.” United States Environmental Protection Agency.\nhttp://water.epa.gov/learn/kids/drinkingwater/water_trivia_facts.cfm#_edn11",
    "more": "http://cowspiracy.com/facts"
  }
}

Now let's write the same thing in CSON:

# Comments!!!

# An Array with no commas!
greatDocumentaries: [
	'earthlings.com'
	'forksoverknives.com'
	'cowspiracy.com'
]

# An Object without braces!
importantFacts:
	# Multi-Line Strings! Without Quote Escaping!
	emissions: '''
		Livestock and their byproducts account for at least 32,000 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, or 51% of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.
		Goodland, R Anhang, J. “Livestock and Climate Change: What if the key actors in climate change were pigs, chickens and cows?”
		WorldWatch, November/December 2009. Worldwatch Institute, Washington, DC, USA. Pp. 10–19.
		http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6294
		'''

	landuse: '''
		Livestock covers 45% of the earth’s total land.
		Thornton, Phillip, Mario Herrero, and Polly Ericksen. “Livestock and Climate Change.” Livestock Exchange, no. 3 (2011).
		https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/10601/IssueBrief3.pdf
		'''

	burger: '''
		One hamburger requires 660 gallons of water to produce – the equivalent of 2 months’ worth of showers.
		Catanese, Christina. “Virtual Water, Real Impacts.” Greenversations: Official Blog of the U.S. EPA. 2012.
		http://blog.epa.gov/healthywaters/2012/03/virtual-water-real-impacts-world-water-day-2012/
		“50 Ways to Save Your River.” Friends of the River.
		http://www.friendsoftheriver.org/site/PageServer?pagename=50ways
		'''

	milk: '''
		1,000 gallons of water are required to produce 1 gallon of milk.
		“Water trivia facts.” United States Environmental Protection Agency.
		http://water.epa.gov/learn/kids/drinkingwater/water_trivia_facts.cfm#_edn11
		'''

	more: 'http://cowspiracy.com/facts'

Which is far more lenient than JSON, way nicer to write and read, no need to quote and escape everything, has comments and readable multi-line strings, and won't fail if you forget a comma.

Using CSON

Via the Command Line

Use CSON with the command line with:

# Convert a JSON file into a CSON file
json2cson in.json > out.cson
# Same thing via piping
cat in.json | json2cson > out.cson

# Convert a CSON file into a JSON file
cson2json in.cson > out.json
# Same thing via piping
cat in.cson | cson2json > out.json

Requires a global CSON install: npm install -g cson

Via the API

Include CSON:

var CSON = require('cson')

Each method can be executed without a callback like so:

var result = CSON.createCSONString({a:{b:'c'}}, {/* optional options argument */})
if ( result instanceof Error ) {
	console.log(result.stack)
} else {
	console.log(result)
}

Or via a callback like so:

CSON.createCSONString({a:{b:'c'}}, {/* optional options argument */}, function(err,result){
	console.log(err, result)
})

Executing the method with a callback still executes the method synchronously.

Click the below function names to open more detailed documentation.

Create Strings

<a href='http://master.cson.bevry.surge.sh/docs/classes/CSON.html#stringify-instance'>String CSON.stringify(data, replacer?, indent?)</a> Converts an <a href='https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Object'>Object</a> into a CSON <a href='https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/String'>String</a>
<a href='http://master.cson.bevry.surge.sh/docs/classes/CSON.html#createCSONString-instance'>String CSON.createCSONString(data, opts?, next?)</a> Converts an <a href='https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Object'>Object</a> into a CSON <a href='https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/String'>String</a>
<a href='http://master.cson.bevry.surge.sh/docs/classes/CSON.html#createJSONString-instance'>String CSON.createJSONString(data, opts?, next?)</a> Converts an <a href='https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Object'>Object</a> into a JSON <a href='https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/String'>String</a>
<a href='http://master.cson.bevry.surge.sh/docs/classes/CSON.html#createString-instance'>String CSON.createString(data, opts?, next?)</a> Converts an <a href='https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Object'>Object</a> into a <a href='https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/String'>String</a> of the desired format If the format option is not specified, we default to CSON

Parse Strings

<a href='http://master.cson.bevry.surge.sh/docs/classes/CSON.html#parse-instance'>Object CSON.parse(data, opts?, next?)</a> Parses a CSON <a

Cson

Install / Use

README