[sureIy]

> shows a notation that is clearly superior to json

I don’t see that at all? Why is `n:number=1` superior to `{n:1}`? If anything, CLI commands are awful for anything other than strings.

[enriquto]

But strings are often the most common case (or even, the only case that is needed). And they need much less punctuation. Compare:

    a=1 b=2 c=3

with

   {"a"="1", "b"="2", "c"="3"}

the json version needs 19 punctuation characters just to define three variables, against the bash version that only has 3. Which one would you prefer to type with your keyboard?

[hnlmorg]

Depends on the shell. The following parses as a number in Murex:

    %{n:1}

https://murex.rocks/parser/create-object.html

I’m sure you can do similar things in other modern shells too. So the real problem is that people are stuck on the constraints of 1970s command lines.