What Is JSON Format?
JSON, which stands for JavaScript Object Notation, is a lightweight data-interchange format that is easy for humans to read and write and for machines to parse and generate. It is based on a subset of the JavaScript Programming Language, Standard ECMA-262 3rd Edition – December 1999. JSON is a language-independent data format, and many programming languages have built-in support for parsing and generating JSON data.
Here is a brief explanation of the JSON format:
- Objects: Objects are enclosed in curly braces
{}And contain pairs of keys and values. A key is a string; the matter can be a string, number, boolean, array, another object, or null. Commas separate key-value pairs. Example:
{
"name": "John",
"age": 30,
"city": "New York"
}- Arrays: Arrays are ordered collections of values enclosed in square brackets
[]. Values can be of any type, including strings, numbers, booleans, objects, arrays, or null. Commas separate values. Example:
[
"apple",
"banana",
"cherry"
]- Values: A value can be a string (enclosed in double quotes), a number, a boolean (true or false), an array, an object, or null.
- Whitespace: Whitespace (spaces, tabs, newlines) can be used between any pair of tokens to make the JSON code more readable.
- Syntax Rules:
- Data is in name/value pairs
- Commas separate data
- Curly braces hold objects
- Square brackets hold arrays
JSON is often used in web applications to transmit data between clients and servers. It is a popular alternative to XML because it is less verbose and easier to work with in many programming languages.