On: TOML: Tom's Obvious Minimal Language

[TylerE]

The trick is distinguishing empty string vs no value vs key not being present.

[Guthur → TylerE]

Key not being present is no value, key present has value, empty string or otherwise, seems simple enough.

You can add advanced semantics on load, the file does nothing by itself after all.

[TylerE → Guthur]

It’s that “or” that bites you if you aren’t real sure of the semantics in play.

[Guthur → TylerE]

There is no 'or' for a given file, it is declaratively there or it is not. The 'or' semantics are part of your language environment not the toml file.