Revised: Thu Jun 02 19:20:23 CDT 2016
This page is included in the following Books:
- The json-simple Java Library .
- INEW2338 - Advanced Java Programming
- Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) with Java
Table of contents
Preface
What is JSON?
The online document titled Introducing JSON begins as follows:
"JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight data-interchange format. It is easy for humans to read and write. It is easy 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 text format that is completely language independent but uses conventions that are familiar to programmers of the C-family of languages, including C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Perl, Python, and many others. These properties make JSON an ideal data-interchange language."
Similarly, the online document titled Java API for JSON Processing: An Introduction to JSON begins as follows:
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight, text-based, language-independent data exchange format that is easy for humans and machines to read and write. JSON can represent two structured types: objects and arrays. An object is an unordered collection of zero or more name/value pairs. An array is an ordered sequence of zero or more values. The values can be strings, numbers, booleans, null, and these two structured types.
It is important to note that even though JSON is based on JavaScript syntax, JASON is not JavaScript nor is it any other programming language. In fact, it isnot a programming language at all. As stated above, JSON is simply "a lightweight, text-based, language-independent data exchange format" -- nothing more and nothing less.
Figure 1 shows a JSON text string containing name/value pairs as well as nested arrays.
{
"game":[
{"cards":[
"2-club","3-heart","4-diamond","5-spade"],"name":"Tom"
},{"cards":
["4-heart","5-heart","6-club","7-diamond"],"name":"Joe"
}]
} (This JSON text will be used in a Java program in a future module.)
Why should you care about JSON?
This book is being written and published under the following assumptions:
- You are interested in Java programming.
- You are interested in web development involving Java programming.
- At some point in the future, you may become interested in Big Data .
- At some point in the future, you may become interested in NoSQL databases such as MongoDB and Couchbase .
As stated in the InfoWorld article of August 25, 2014: