JSON Basic Course

JSON - Introduction

JavaScript Object Notation, commonly known as 'JSON', is heavily leveraged as a data-interchange format.
JSON is a subset of the JavaScript Programming language, Standard ECMA-262 3rd Edition-December 1999 where both,
- Humans can read/write it easily.
- Machines can parse and generate.

In this course, you will understand more about JSON.

JSON is a lightweight text format that is independent of any programming Languages thus making it an ideal option for data-interchange in today's Business world.

JSON Advantages

Uses a fewer number of standardized Syntax.
More Self-describing (readable by humans and machines).
JSON Properties and values can be accessed immediately by using JavaScript.
Code for parsing and interchanging JSON data is readily available in almost all modern programming languages.
Hierarchical (values can contain a list of objects or values).
Unlike Javascript, JSON can retrieve values from anywhere as it supports all languages.
JSON uses arrays and Objects.

JSON Usage

Transfers data between a server and various web applications.
Performs asynchronous data calls without requiring a page refresh. This is widely used for asynchronous browser/server communication
APIs and web services use JSON to transfer real-time sensitive data.
Compiles user data for local storage.
JSON is now being supported by almost all Programming languages.
JSON supports for sending, reading, and receiving texts available in all the real-world business.
JSON-RPC is a Remote Procedure call (RPC) protocol built on JSON, which allows system to send multiple notifications to the server.

JSON vs XML

JSON almost replaced XML which was previously leveraged as the only data interchange format.

JSON is preferred because of the following two important reasons:

JSON transfers data faster than XML because XML uses tags to describe data which increases their data size.
JSON uses typed Objects, which can be parsed by any standard JavaScript function. Whereas, XML uses type-less strings, which must be parsed by XML parser (XPath) during run-time, which makes it more complex.

JSON Limitations

JSON cannot handle large data. (Need to leverage other formats, which you will learn later in this course.)
Not suitable for handling different multimedia formats.
JSON does not have a feature to support 'comments'. This could be included as an additional attribute alone.