SHON Specification v0.6

SHON (Structured Human-Optimized Notation) is a data serialization format designed for readability, schema support, and practical use in modern systems. Version 0.6 introduces advanced types and syntax improvements.

---

🔧 Syntax Features

✅ Comments

• Single-line: // comment here
• Multi-line: /* this is a multi-line comment */

✅ Namespaces

@users {
  ...
}

✅ Field Assignment

key: value

---

📦 Supported Types

SHON Syntax	Description
"string"	String
42, true, false	Number and boolean
$decimal("12.34")	Decimal with precision
$timestamp("2024-01-01T00:00:00Z")	ISO 8601 timestamp
$tuple(1, "a", true)	Anonymous tuple
Vec3(1.0, 2.0, 3.0)	Named tuple
[1, 2, 3]	Array
{ key: value }	Map or Struct (based on schema)
&ref.to.path	Reference

---

🧱 Data Structures

🔹 Arrays

numbers: [1, 2, 3]

🔹 Maps

translations: {
    en: "Hello",
    es: "Hola"
}

🔹 Structs

Structs look like maps but are validated against a schema with fixed fields.

user: {
    name: "Sean",
    active: true
}

🔹 Tuples

$tuple(1, "a", true)
Vec3(1.0, 2.0, 3.0) // Named tuple

---

🔗 References

manager: &people.sean

---

🕓 Timestamps

created: $timestamp("2025-03-22T14:30:00Z")

---

💵 Decimals

price: $decimal("19.95")

---

🔄 Example

@invoice {
    id: "INV001",
    total: $decimal("1042.75"),
    created: $timestamp("2025-03-22T10:00:00Z"),
    items: [
        $tuple("Widget", 3, $decimal("9.99"))
    ],
    paid: false
}