JSON

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight, text-based data interchange format that has become the de facto standard for data exchange on the web and between applications. Originally derived from JavaScript object literal syntax, JSON uses a simple, human-readable structure consisting of key-value pairs (objects), ordered lists (arrays), and primitive data types including strings, numbers, booleans, and null. Its straightforward syntax makes it easy for both humans to read and write and for machines to parse and generate, which has contributed to its widespread adoption across virtually all programming languages and platforms. JSON’s simplicity—using only curly braces for objects, square brackets for arrays, and colons to separate keys from values—makes it accessible to developers while remaining efficient enough for production use in everything from REST APIs to configuration files.

Beyond its use in web APIs and AJAX communications, JSON has become the preferred format for configuration files, data storage in NoSQL databases like MongoDB and CouchDB, and data serialization in modern applications. Unlike XML, JSON has minimal overhead with no opening and closing tags, making payloads smaller and faster to transmit over networks. JSON’s language-agnostic nature means that nearly every programming language has robust libraries for parsing and generating JSON, enabling seamless interoperability between systems written in different languages. While JSON lacks some features found in other formats—such as comments (though JSON5 and JSONC variants address this), schema validation (addressed by JSON Schema), and support for binary data (typically handled through Base64 encoding)—its balance of simplicity, readability, and universal support has made it the most popular data interchange format in modern software development, particularly in microservices architectures, cloud services, and mobile applications.

Tags: Data Format

Properties: Text-Based, Lightweight, Human-Readable, Machine-Parsable, Language-Agnostic, Platform-Independent, Data Interchange Format, Key-Value Pairs, Nested Structures, Object Support, Array Support, Primitive Data Types, String Support, Number Support, Boolean Support, Null Support, Unicode Support, UTF-8 Encoding, Hierarchical Structure, Tree Structure, Self-Describing, Schema-Less, Curly Brace Syntax, Square Bracket Syntax, Colon Separator, Comma Delimiter, Quote-Delimited Strings, No Comments, Whitespace Insensitive, Compact Format, Minimal Overhead, Fast Parsing, Efficient Transmission, Small Payload Size, Web-Native, JavaScript-Compatible, REST API Standard, AJAX Communication, Universal Library Support, Cross-Language Compatibility, Serialization Format, Deserialization Support, Type Safety, Strongly Typed Values, Unambiguous Syntax, Simple Grammar, Easy to Learn, Easy to Generate, Easy to Parse, Standards-Based, RFC 8259, ECMA-404, ISO/IEC 21778, No Processing Instructions, No Attributes, No Namespaces, No Mixed Content, Strict Syntax Rules, Case Sensitive, Double-Quote Strings, Escape Sequences, Backslash Escaping, Unicode Escaping, Number Precision, Integer Support, Floating Point Support, Scientific Notation, Negative Numbers, No Leading Zeros, No Trailing Commas, No Undefined Values, No Functions, No Dates, No Binary Data, No Comments Support, No Metadata, No Schema Enforcement, Dynamic Typing, Flexible Structure, Recursive Nesting, Arbitrary Depth, Object Ordering Unspecified, Duplicate Keys Discouraged, Array Ordering Preserved, Immutable Once Generated, Stateless, Context-Free, Validation Support via JSON Schema, Extension Support via JSON-LD, JSON5 Variants, JSONC Variants, Pretty Printing, Minification Support, Compression Compatible, Streaming Support, Incremental Parsing, Event-Driven Parsing, DOM Parsing, SAX-Style Parsing, JSONPath Query Support, JMESPath Support, JSON Pointer Support, JSON Patch Support, JSON Merge Patch, API Documentation, Swagger/OpenAPI Support, Configuration Files, NoSQL Database Format, MongoDB Support, CouchDB Support, Document Store Format, Key-Value Store, Cache Storage, Session Storage, Local Storage, Message Queue Format, Event Sourcing, Log Format, Structured Logging, Telemetry Data, Metrics Format, Error Reporting, Response Format, Request Format, Webhook Payloads, OAuth Tokens, JWT Format, Cookie Data, Form Data Alternative, GraphQL Responses, RPC Format, Service Communication, Microservices Protocol, Cloud Service Standard, Mobile App Data, IoT Data Format, Real-Time Communication, WebSocket Messages, Server-Sent Events, Push Notifications, Content Negotiation, MIME Type application/json, File Extension .json, Backwards Compatible, Forward Compatible, Interoperable, Widely Adopted, Industry Standard, Best Practice Format, Production Ready, Battle Tested, Mature Ecosystem, Tool Support, IDE Integration, Syntax Highlighting, Linting Support, Formatting Tools, Conversion Tools, Diff Tools, Merge Tools, Comparison Tools, Testing Support, Mock Data Generation, Faker Integration, Schema Generation, Type Generation, Code Generation, Documentation Generation

Website: https://www.json.org/json-en.html