Ah, thanks! I've updated my comment to reflect that.
What you describe is also a sensible use of CUE. I suppose if one of your goals is 'avoid asking users to use a language they don't already know', it might be for the best. :)
But personally I wouldn't mind seeing a bit of CUE usage to work with devboxes, hehe.
For continuity, here is my aside on CUE from that comment, apropos of nothing but my lack of reading comprehension :D
----
CUE is, like Nix, a simple, configuration-oriented DSL. But unlike Nix, it's really just extended JSON (a JSON file can be thought of as a CUE file where all of the values are concrete), it has a different kind of type system where values are types, and the language is decidedly not Turing complete. The type system is pretty neat, and the basic idea is that you can put constraints in the place of values, and write data structures that contain mixes of each. Then latter you can apply those constraints to a configuration/specification and CUE will tell you whether they're compatible. It's cool because you can write your specification and your data in the same format.
While CUE is not a full programming language, it does have a small stdlib and basic 'comprehensions' (like list comprehensions in Python) for generating data structures from other data structures. This gives at least a little flexibility and some hope of concision, defining repetitive data structures.
Having used Nix a lot and CUE a little, I'm not sure which set of tradeoffs in terms of power and simplicity is it right one, but I do think that CUE's choices are interesting and reasonable, and its type system is clever and easy to work with.
What you describe is also a sensible use of CUE. I suppose if one of your goals is 'avoid asking users to use a language they don't already know', it might be for the best. :)
But personally I wouldn't mind seeing a bit of CUE usage to work with devboxes, hehe.
For continuity, here is my aside on CUE from that comment, apropos of nothing but my lack of reading comprehension :D
----
CUE is, like Nix, a simple, configuration-oriented DSL. But unlike Nix, it's really just extended JSON (a JSON file can be thought of as a CUE file where all of the values are concrete), it has a different kind of type system where values are types, and the language is decidedly not Turing complete. The type system is pretty neat, and the basic idea is that you can put constraints in the place of values, and write data structures that contain mixes of each. Then latter you can apply those constraints to a configuration/specification and CUE will tell you whether they're compatible. It's cool because you can write your specification and your data in the same format.
While CUE is not a full programming language, it does have a small stdlib and basic 'comprehensions' (like list comprehensions in Python) for generating data structures from other data structures. This gives at least a little flexibility and some hope of concision, defining repetitive data structures.
Having used Nix a lot and CUE a little, I'm not sure which set of tradeoffs in terms of power and simplicity is it right one, but I do think that CUE's choices are interesting and reasonable, and its type system is clever and easy to work with.