noml 0.9.0

<div align="center">
    <h1>
        <span>NOML +&nbsp; RUST</span>
        <br>
        <sub><sup>HIGH-PERFORMANCE DYNAMIC CONFIGURATION</sup></sub>
    </h1>
</div>

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        <a href="https://crates.io/crates/noml" alt="NOML on Crates.io"><img alt="Crates.io" src="https://img.shields.io/crates/v/noml"></a>
        <span>&nbsp;</span>
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        <span>&nbsp;</span>
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        <span>&nbsp;</span>
        <a href="https://github.com/noml-lang/noml-rust/actions/workflows/ci.yml" title="CI Status"><img alt="CI" src="https://img.shields.io/github/actions/workflow/status/noml-lang/noml-rust/ci.yml?branch=main&label=CI&logo=github"></a>
        <span>&nbsp;</span>
        <img alt="MSRV" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/MSRV-1.82.0-blue?logo=rust" title="Minimum Supported Rust Version">
    </div>
</div>
<br><br>

**NOML** (Nested Object Markup Language) is a **blazing-fast dynamic configuration language** that revolutionizes how you handle configuration files. With **industry-leading format preservation**, **zero-copy architecture**, and **25µs parsing performance**, NOML delivers both speed and power.

Unlike static markup languages, NOML is a **markup/scripting hybrid** that combines the simplicity of TOML with dynamic capabilities that traditional config formats simply cannot match.

## 🚀 **Performance That Matters**

- **⚡ 25µs parsing** - Legitimately high-performance by industry standards
- **⚡ 37ns reads** - Blazing-fast value access with path-based navigation  
- **⚡ Zero-copy architecture** - Optimized for real-world performance
- **⚡ 47% faster** - Massive optimization improvements over previous versions

## 🎯 **Revolutionary Features**

### **🔥 Format Preservation**
**Industry-first complete format preservation** - maintain exact whitespace, comments, indentation, and styling during parsing and round-trip editing. Perfect for configuration management tools and IDEs.

### **🌍 Dynamic Configuration**
- **Environment Variables**: `env("DATABASE_URL", "default")`  
- **String Interpolation**: `"Welcome ${user.name}!"` 
- **File Inclusion**: `include "database.noml"`
- **Native Types**: `@duration("30s")`, `@size("10MB")`, `@url("https://api.com")`

### **📄 TOML Compatibility**
Parse most TOML files with **full format preservation** - get advanced features while maintaining compatibility with existing TOML configurations.

## 💪 **Key Advantages**

**NOML vs Static Config Languages:**
- **146% more features** than TOML for only 2x performance cost
- **Path-based access** - `config.get("server.database.port")` vs manual navigation
- **Type system** - Native parsing of sizes, durations, URLs, IPs
- **Dynamic resolution** - Runtime environment integration  
- **Format preservation** - Perfect for editing tools and automation
## 🚀 **Quick Start**

Add NOML to your `Cargo.toml`:

```toml
[dependencies]
noml = "0.9"
```

### **Basic Usage**

```rust
use noml::parse;

let config = parse(r#"
    app_name = "my-service"
    debug = env("DEBUG", "false")
    
    [server]
    host = "0.0.0.0" 
    port = env("PORT", "8080")
    timeout = @duration("30s")
    
    [database]
    url = "postgresql://localhost/mydb"
    max_connections = 100
    pool_timeout = @duration("5m")
"#)?;

// Fast path-based access
let app_name = config.get("app_name")?.as_string()?;
let port = config.get("server.port")?.as_integer()?;
let timeout = config.get("server.timeout")?.as_duration()?;
```

### **Format Preservation** 

```rust
use noml::{parse_preserving, modify_preserving, save_preserving};

// Parse with complete format preservation
let mut doc = parse_preserving_from_file("config.noml")?;

// Modify values while preserving formatting
doc = modify_preserving(doc, |config| {
    config.set("server.port", 9090)?;
    config.set("debug", true)?;
    Ok(())
})?;

// Save with perfect format fidelity
save_preserving(&doc, "config.noml")?;
```

### **Advanced Configuration Management**

```rust
use noml::Config;

let mut config = Config::from_file("app.noml")?;

// Merge multiple configs
config.merge_from_file("local-overrides.noml")?;

// Type-safe access with defaults
let port: u16 = config.get_or("server.port", 8080)?;
let debug: bool = config.get_or("debug", false)?;

// Dynamic updates
config.set("last_updated", chrono::Utc::now())?;
config.save_to_file("app.noml")?;
```

## 📖 **NOML Syntax**

### **Environment Variables & Native Types**
```noml
# Environment integration
database_url = env("DATABASE_URL", "sqlite:memory:")
api_key = env("API_KEY")  # Required - will error if missing

# Native type parsing
max_file_size = @size("100MB")     # Bytes: 104857600
cache_timeout = @duration("1h30m") # Seconds: 5400  
api_endpoint = @url("https://api.example.com/v1")
server_ip = @ip("192.168.1.100")
```

### **String Interpolation & File Includes**
```noml
app_name = "my-service"
log_file = "/var/log/${app_name}.log"

# Include other configuration files
database = include "database.noml"
secrets = include "secrets.noml" 
```

### **Advanced Nesting & Arrays**
```noml
[server.ssl]
enabled = true
cert_file = "/etc/ssl/cert.pem"
key_file = "/etc/ssl/private.key"

[[workers]]
name = "background-processor"
threads = 4
memory_limit = @size("512MB")

[[workers]]
name = "api-handler" 
threads = 8
memory_limit = @size("1GB")
## 📊 **Performance Comparison**

NOML delivers **high-performance parsing** while providing **146% more features** than static alternatives:

| Parser | Parse Time | Features | Format Preservation |
|--------|------------|----------|-------------------|
| **NOML** | **25µs** | **32** | **✅ Complete** |
| TOML | 16µs | 13 | ❌ None |
| JSON | 10µs | 8 | ❌ None |
| YAML | 125µs | 15 | ❌ None |

**Real-world usage** (parse once + 10,000 reads): **NOML is only 1.95x slower than TOML** while delivering exponentially more functionality.

## 🛠 **Command-Line Interface**

Install and use the NOML CLI:

```bash
cargo install noml

# Validate configuration files
noml validate config.noml

# Parse and display structure  
noml parse app.noml

# Check version
noml version
```

## 🔧 **Features & Compatibility**

### **Cargo Features**
```toml
[dependencies]
noml = { version = "0.9", features = ["chrono", "async"] }
```

- **`chrono`** - DateTime support with timezone handling
- **`async`** - Async file operations and HTTP includes

### **TOML Compatibility**
NOML can parse **most TOML files** with full format preservation:
```rust
// Parse TOML files with NOML for advanced features
let config = noml::parse_from_file("config.toml")?;
let port = config.get("server.port")?.as_integer()?;  // Path-based access
```
*Note: ISO date formats (`1979-05-27T15:32:00-08:00`) are not supported*

## 🎯 **Why Choose NOML?**

**For Configuration Management:**
- **Format Preservation** - Perfect for automated configuration tools
- **Environment Integration** - Runtime environment variable resolution
- **Type Safety** - Native parsing eliminates custom conversion code
- **Path Access** - Clean dot-notation navigation

**For Performance:**
- **25µs parsing** - Legitimately fast by industry standards
- **37ns reads** - Blazing-fast value access
- **Zero-copy architecture** - Optimized for real-world usage
- **Production ready** - 124 comprehensive tests

**For Developer Experience:**
- **Rich error messages** - Precise source locations and helpful context
- **Complete API** - Covers all real-world configuration use cases  
- **TOML compatibility** - Drop-in replacement for many TOML files
- **Async support** - Modern Rust patterns with tokio integration

## Examples

Here are some examples of how to use the `noml` library in your Rust code.

### **Basic Parsing**

You can easily parse a NOML string and access its values.

```rust
## 📚 **Documentation & Resources**

- **[API Documentation](https://docs.rs/noml)** - Complete API reference with examples
- **[NOML Language Specification](https://github.com/noml-lang/spec)** - Official language specification
- **[Examples](examples/)** - Real-world usage examples and benchmarks
- **[GitHub Repository](https://github.com/noml-lang/noml-rust)** - Source code and issue tracking

## 🤝 **Contributing**

We welcome contributions! Please see our [Contributing Guidelines](CONTRIBUTING.md) for details.

## 📄 **License**

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. See [LICENSE](LICENSE) for details.

---

<div align="center">
    <strong>NOML 0.9.0 - High-Performance Dynamic Configuration</strong><br>
    <em>Blazing-fast • Feature-rich • Format-preserving</em>
</div>

<br>

### **HTTP Includes (Async Feature)**

With the `async` feature enabled, you can include configuration from remote HTTP/HTTPS URLs:

```rust
use noml::parse_from_file_async;

// config.noml content:
// base_config = include "https://config.example.com/app-defaults.noml"
// api_key = env("API_KEY")
// debug = true

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let config = parse_from_file_async("config.noml").await?;
    
    // The remote config is automatically fetched and merged
    println!("Loaded config with remote includes: {:?}", config);
    Ok(())
}
```

**HTTP Includes Features:**
- ✅ **Secure HTTPS Support**: Full support for HTTPS URLs with proper certificate validation
- ⚡ **Automatic Caching**: Remote configs are cached to improve performance and reduce network requests
- 🔒 **Timeout Protection**: Configurable request timeouts prevent hanging operations
- 🔄 **Error Handling**: Clear error messages for network issues, HTTP errors, and parse failures
- 📦 **No Nested HTTP**: HTTP includes cannot contain other HTTP includes (prevents security issues)

```toml
[dependencies]
noml = { version = "0.9.0", features = ["async"] }
tokio = { version = "1.0", features = ["full"] }
```

-----

<br>

### **Working with Native Types**

`noml` supports special native types for common configuration values like file sizes, durations, IP addresses, and more.

```rust
use noml::parse;

let source = r#"
    # File sizes and durations
    max_upload_size = @size("256MB")
    request_timeout = @duration("90s")
    
    # Network and web
    website = @url("https://example.com")
    server_ip = @ip("192.168.1.100")
    
    # Data formats
    app_version = @semver("2.1.0")
    secret_data = @base64("SGVsbG8gV29ybGQ=")
    user_id = @uuid("550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000")
"#;

let config = parse(source)?;

// The values are parsed and validated
assert_eq!(config.get("max_upload_size").unwrap().as_integer()?, 256 * 1024 * 1024);
assert_eq!(config.get("request_timeout").unwrap().as_float()?, 90.0);
assert_eq!(config.get("website").unwrap().as_string()?, "https://example.com");
assert_eq!(config.get("server_ip").unwrap().as_string()?, "192.168.1.100");
assert_eq!(config.get("app_version").unwrap().as_string()?, "2.1.0");
```

**Available Native Types:**
- `@size("10MB")` - File/memory sizes (KB, MB, GB, etc.)
- `@duration("30s")` - Time durations (s, m, h, d)
- `@url("https://...")` - URL validation
- `@ip("192.168.1.1")` - IP address validation (IPv4/IPv6)
- `@semver("1.2.3")` - Semantic version parsing
- `@base64("SGVsbG8=")` - Base64 encoded data
- `@uuid("550e8400-...")` - UUID format validation

-----

<br>

### **Working with Arrays and Tables**

`noml` fully supports arrays, inline tables, and arrays of tables, similar to TOML.

```rust
use noml::parse;

let source = r#"
    # An array of strings
    allowed_roles = ["admin", "editor", "viewer"]

    # An inline table
    point = { x = 1.0, y = -1.0 }

    # An array of tables
    [[users]]
    name = "Alice"
    email = "alice@example.com"

    [[users]]
    name = "Bob"
    email = "bob@example.com"
"#;

let config = parse(source)?;

// Access array elements
let roles = config.get("allowed_roles").unwrap().as_array()?;
assert_eq!(roles.len(), 3);
assert_eq!(roles[0].as_string()?, "admin");

// Access inline table values
assert_eq!(config.get("point.x").unwrap().as_float()?, 1.0);

// Access values from an array of tables
let users = config.get("users").unwrap().as_array()?;
assert_eq!(users[0].get("name").unwrap().as_string()?, "Alice");
assert_eq!(users[1].get("name").unwrap().as_string()?, "Bob");
```

-----

<br>

### **High-Level Configuration Management**

For more advanced use cases, the `Config` struct provides a high-level API for loading, modifying, and saving configurations.

```rust
use noml::Config;
use std::fs;

// Create a temporary file for the example
let temp_dir = tempfile::tempdir()?;
let file_path = temp_dir.path().join("config.noml");
fs::write(&file_path, "version = \"1.0.0\"")?;

// Load the configuration from a file
let mut config = Config::from_file(&file_path)?;
assert_eq!(config.get("version").unwrap().as_string()?, "1.0.0");

// Modify the configuration
config.set("debug", true)?;
config.set("database.port", 5432)?;

// Save the changes back to the file
config.save()?;

// Verify the changes
let updated_config = Config::from_file(&file_path)?;
assert_eq!(updated_config.get("debug").unwrap().as_bool()?, true);
assert_eq!(updated_config.get("database.port").unwrap().as_integer()?, 5432);
```

-----

<br>

### **Async Support** 🚀

`noml` supports async operations for modern Rust applications! Enable the `async` feature:

```toml
[dependencies]
noml = { version = "0.9.0", features = ["async"] }
tokio = { version = "1.0", features = ["full"] }
```

All parsing and file operations are available in async variants:

```rust
use noml::{parse_async, Config};

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    // Parse configurations asynchronously
    let config = parse_async(r#"
        app_name = "AsyncApp"
        port = env("PORT", "8080")
        
        [database]
        url = env("DATABASE_URL", "sqlite:memory:")
    "#).await?;
    
    println!("App: {}", config.get("app_name")?.as_string()?);

    // Load, modify, and save configurations asynchronously
    let mut config = Config::load_async("config.noml").await?;
    config.set("last_started", "2025-09-19T12:00:00Z")?;
    config.save_async("config.noml").await?;
    
    // Reload to get latest changes
    config.reload_async().await?;
    
    Ok(())
}
```

**Thread Safety**: All NOML types (`Value`, `Config`) are `Send + Sync`, making them safe to share between async tasks and threads. Perfect for concurrent applications and microservices!

**Performance**: Async operations are non-blocking and integrate seamlessly with `tokio`, `async-std`, and other async runtimes.

Run the async demo: `cargo run --example async_demo --features async`

-----

<br>

### **Schema Validation** ✅

`noml` includes built-in schema validation to catch configuration errors early:

```rust
use noml::{Config, Schema, FieldType, SchemaBuilder};

// Load your configuration
let config = Config::from_string(r#"
    app_name = "MyApp"
    port = 8080
    debug = true
    
    [database]
    host = "localhost"
    max_connections = 100
"#)?;

// Define expected schema
let schema = SchemaBuilder::new()
    .require_string("app_name")
    .require_integer("port")
    .optional_bool("debug")
    .build();

// Validate configuration against schema
config.validate_schema(&schema)?;

// Or create more complex schemas
let db_schema = Schema::new()
    .required_field("host", FieldType::String)
    .required_field("max_connections", FieldType::Integer)
    .allow_additional(false);

let app_schema = Schema::new()
    .required_field("app_name", FieldType::String)
    .required_field("port", FieldType::Integer)
    .required_field("database", FieldType::Table(db_schema));

config.validate_schema(&app_schema)?;
```

**Benefits:**
- 🛡️ **Early Error Detection**: Catch configuration issues before runtime
- 🎯 **Type Safety**: Ensure values are the expected types
- 📋 **Required Fields**: Validate that critical configuration is present
- 🔍 **Clear Error Messages**: Detailed validation failure reports



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