[Dovecot] Dovecot's brittle configuration syntax

Hi there,

Whilst trying to come up with a minimal configuration for Dovecot: http://dabase.com/blog/Minimal_Dovecot/

I noticed the configuration syntax is a bit admin unfriendly. It's easy to get an infamous Error code 89.

Is there any back story to the grammar or language this configuration is in?

Kind regards,