# Caveat Configurator: how to replace configs with code, and why you might not want to

DevFeed: [Caveat Configurator: how to replace configs with code, and why you might not want to](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/caveat-configurator-how-to-replace-configs-with-code-and-why-you-might-not-want-to-20158.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://blog.janestreet.com/caveat-configurator-how-to-replace-configs-with-code-and-why-you-might-not-want-to/>)

Author: Yaron Minsky

Published: 2017-04-25T00:00:00Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Jane Street](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/jane-street.md>)

Topics: [configuration](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/configuration.md>), [Code](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/code.md>), [Programming language](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/programming-language.md>), [Tooling](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/tooling.md>)

Tags: [code](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/code.md>), [config](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/config.md>), [configuration](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/configuration.md>), [programming](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/programming.md>), [programming-language](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/programming-language.md>), [talk](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/talk.md>), [tech-talk](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/tech-talk.md>), [tooling](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/tooling.md>)

## AI overview

The article announces a Jane Street tech talk about representing configuration with programs. It discusses why configuration formats often evolve into poorly supported programming languages and examines the practical trade-offs of replacing configuration with code.

## Source excerpt

We have a new tech talk coming up on May 17th, from our very own Dominick LoBraico. This one is about how to represent configurations with programs. In some sense, this is an obvious idea. Lots of programmers have experienced the dysphoria that comes from watching your elegant little configuration format metamorphize into a badly constructed programming language with miserable tools. This happens because, as you try to make your configs clearer and more concise, you often end up walking down the primrose path of making your config format ever more language-like. But you never really have the time to make it into a proper language.