I've looked on wikipedia and Googled it and read the official documentation, but I still haven't got to the point where I really understand what JSON is, and why I'd use it.
I have been building applications using PHP, MySQL and Javascript / HTML for a while, and if JSON can do something to make my life easier or my code better or my user interface better, then I'd like to know about it. Can someone give me a succinct explanation?
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json
In the Java context, one reason why JSON might want to be used, is that it provides a very good alternative to Java's Serialization framework, which has been shown (historically) to be subject to some fairly serious vulnerabilities.
Joshua Bloch discusses this in depth in Item 85 "Prefer Alternatives to Java Serialization" (Effective Java 3rd Edition)
Java's Serialization was initially meant to translate data structures into a format that could be easily transmitted or stored. JSON meets this requirement, without the serious exploits referred to above.
In short, it is a scripting notation for passing data about. In some ways an alternative to XML, natively supporting basic data types, arrays and associative arrays (name-value pairs, called Objects because that is what they represent).
The syntax is that used in JavaScript and JSON itself stands for "JavaScript Object Notation". However it has become portable and is used in other languages too.
A useful link for detail is here:
In short - JSON is a way of serializing in such a way, that it becomes JavaScript code. When executed (with eval or otherwise), this code creates and returns a JavaScript object which contains the data you serialized. This is available because JavaScript allows the following syntax:
var MyArray = [ 1, 2, 3, 4]; // MyArray is now an array with 4 elements
var MyObject = {
'StringProperty' : 'Value',
'IntProperty' : 12,
'ArrayProperty' : [ 1, 2, 3],
'ObjectProperty' : { 'SubObjectProperty': 'SomeValue' }
}; // MyObject is now an object with property values set.
You can use this for several purposes. For one, it's a comfortable way to pass data from your server backend to your JavaScript code. Thus, this is often used in AJAX.
You can also use it as a standalone serialization mechanism, which is simpler and takes up less space than XML. Many libraries exists that allow you to serialize and deserialize objects in JSON for various programming languages.
the common short answer is: if you are using AJAX to make data requests, you can easily send and return objects as JSON strings. Available extensions for Javascript support toJSON() calls on all javascript types for sending data to the server in an AJAX request. AJAX responses can return objects as JSON strings which can be converted into Javascript objects by a simple eval call, e.g. if the AJAX function someAjaxFunctionCallReturningJson returned
"{ \"FirstName\" : \"Fred\", \"LastName\" : \"Flintstone\" }"
you could write in Javascript
var obj = eval("(" + someAjaxFunctionCallReturningJson().value + ")");
alert(obj.FirstName);
alert(obj.LastName);
JSON can also be used for web service payloads et al, but it is really convenient for AJAX results.
It's very simple. JSON stands for Java Script Object Notation. Think of it as an alternative to using XML for transferring data between software components.
For example, I recently wrote a bunch of web services that returned JSON, and some Javascript developers then wrote code which called the services and consumed the information returned in that format.
Understanding JSON
JSON is just a text format that most REST APIs use to return their data. Another common format is XML, but XML is quite a bit more verbose.
Here’s a small example of JSON:
// JSON object
{
"name": "John",
"age": 20
}
// JSON array
[
{
"name": "John",
"age": 20
},
{
"name": "Peter",
"age": 22
}
]
Notice that the snippet starts with a brace {, which indicates an object. JSON can also start as an array, which uses the square bracket [ symbol to signify the start of the array. JSON needs to be properly formatted, so all beginning { and [ symbols need to have their ending symbols: } and ].
JSON can contain object or array. An object in JSON is wrapped inside the braces { … }, while an array is wrapped inside square brackets [ … ].
JSON structures data by key-value. Key is always a string, but value could be anything (String, number, JSON object, JSON array…). This will affect the way we parse JSON in the next steps.
JSON is JavaScript Object Notation. It is a much-more compact way of transmitting sets of data across network connections as compared to XML. I suggest JSON be used in any AJAX-like applications where XML would otherwise be the "recommended" option. The verbosity of XML will add to download time and increased bandwidth consumption ($$$). You can accomplish the same effect with JSON and its mark-up is almost exclusively dedicated to the data itself and not the underlying structure.
In short, it is a scripting notation for passing data about. In some ways an alternative to XML, natively supporting basic data types, arrays and associative arrays (name-value pairs, called Objects because that is what they represent).
The syntax is that used in JavaScript and JSON itself stands for "JavaScript Object Notation". However it has become portable and is used in other languages too.
A useful link for detail is here:
I like JSON mainly because it's so terse. For web content that can be gzipped, this isn't necessarily a big deal (hence why xhtml is so popular). But there are occasions where this can be beneficial.
For example, for one project I was transmitting information that needed to be serialized and transmitted via XMPP. Since most servers will limit the amount of data you can transmit in a single message, I found it helpful to use JSON over the obvious alternative, XML.
As an added bonus, if you're familiar with Python or Javascript, you already pretty much know JSON and can interpret it without much training at all.
JSON(Javascript object notation) is a light weight data format for data exchange/transfer. Its in key value pair as the JavaScript is. For REST API its widely used for data transfer from server to client. Nowadays many of the social media sites are using this. Although I don't see this as robust as XML with respect of data types. XML has very rich datatypes and XSD. JSON is bit lacking in this.
For same amount of string data JSON will be lighter compare to XML as XML has all that opening and closing tags, etc...
JSON is JavaScript Object Notation. It is a much-more compact way of transmitting sets of data across network connections as compared to XML. I suggest JSON be used in any AJAX-like applications where XML would otherwise be the "recommended" option. The verbosity of XML will add to download time and increased bandwidth consumption ($$$). You can accomplish the same effect with JSON and its mark-up is almost exclusively dedicated to the data itself and not the underlying structure.
In short, it is a scripting notation for passing data about. In some ways an alternative to XML, natively supporting basic data types, arrays and associative arrays (name-value pairs, called Objects because that is what they represent).
The syntax is that used in JavaScript and JSON itself stands for "JavaScript Object Notation". However it has become portable and is used in other languages too.
A useful link for detail is here:
Understanding JSON
JSON is just a text format that most REST APIs use to return their data. Another common format is XML, but XML is quite a bit more verbose.
Here’s a small example of JSON:
// JSON object
{
"name": "John",
"age": 20
}
// JSON array
[
{
"name": "John",
"age": 20
},
{
"name": "Peter",
"age": 22
}
]
Notice that the snippet starts with a brace {, which indicates an object. JSON can also start as an array, which uses the square bracket [ symbol to signify the start of the array. JSON needs to be properly formatted, so all beginning { and [ symbols need to have their ending symbols: } and ].
JSON can contain object or array. An object in JSON is wrapped inside the braces { … }, while an array is wrapped inside square brackets [ … ].
JSON structures data by key-value. Key is always a string, but value could be anything (String, number, JSON object, JSON array…). This will affect the way we parse JSON in the next steps.
The difference between JSON and conventional syntax would be as follows (in Javascript)
Conventional
function Employee(name, Id, Phone, email){
this.name = name;
this.Id = Id;
this.Phone = Phone;
this.email = email;
}
//access or call it as
var Emp = new Employee("mike","123","9373849784","[email protected]");
With JSON
if we use JSON we can define in different way as
function Employee(args){
this.name = args.name;
this.Id = args.Id;
this.Phone = args.Phone;
this.email = args.email;
}
//now access this as...
var Emp = new Employee({'name':'Mike', 'Id':'123', 'Phone':'23792747', 'email':'[email protected]'});
The important thing we have to remember is that, if we have to build the "Employee" class or modal with 100 elements without JSON method we have to parse everything when creating class. But with JSON we can define the objects inline only when a new object for the class is defined.
so this line below is the way of doing things with JSON(just a simple way to define things)
var Emp = new Employee({'name':'Mike', 'Id':'123', 'Phone':'23792747', 'email':'[email protected]'});
What is JSON?
JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is a lightweight data-interchange format inspired by the object literals of JavaScript.
JSON values can consist of:
objects (collections of name-value pairs) arrays (ordered lists of values) strings (in double quotes) numbers true, false, or null
JSON is language independent.
JSON with PHP?
After PHP Version 5.2.0, JSON extension is decodes and encodes functionalities as default.
Json_encode - returns the JSON representation of values Json_decode - Decodes the JSON String Json_last_error - Returns the last error occured.
JSON Syntax and Rules?
JSON syntax is derived from JavaScript object notation syntax:
Data is in name/value pairs Data is separated by commas Curly braces hold objects Square brackets hold arrays
JSON(Javascript object notation) is a light weight data format for data exchange/transfer. Its in key value pair as the JavaScript is. For REST API its widely used for data transfer from server to client. Nowadays many of the social media sites are using this. Although I don't see this as robust as XML with respect of data types. XML has very rich datatypes and XSD. JSON is bit lacking in this.
For same amount of string data JSON will be lighter compare to XML as XML has all that opening and closing tags, etc...
I like JSON mainly because it's so terse. For web content that can be gzipped, this isn't necessarily a big deal (hence why xhtml is so popular). But there are occasions where this can be beneficial.
For example, for one project I was transmitting information that needed to be serialized and transmitted via XMPP. Since most servers will limit the amount of data you can transmit in a single message, I found it helpful to use JSON over the obvious alternative, XML.
As an added bonus, if you're familiar with Python or Javascript, you already pretty much know JSON and can interpret it without much training at all.
What is JSON?
JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is a lightweight data-interchange format inspired by the object literals of JavaScript.
JSON values can consist of:
objects (collections of name-value pairs) arrays (ordered lists of values) strings (in double quotes) numbers true, false, or null
JSON is language independent.
JSON with PHP?
After PHP Version 5.2.0, JSON extension is decodes and encodes functionalities as default.
Json_encode - returns the JSON representation of values Json_decode - Decodes the JSON String Json_last_error - Returns the last error occured.
JSON Syntax and Rules?
JSON syntax is derived from JavaScript object notation syntax:
Data is in name/value pairs Data is separated by commas Curly braces hold objects Square brackets hold arrays
I like JSON mainly because it's so terse. For web content that can be gzipped, this isn't necessarily a big deal (hence why xhtml is so popular). But there are occasions where this can be beneficial.
For example, for one project I was transmitting information that needed to be serialized and transmitted via XMPP. Since most servers will limit the amount of data you can transmit in a single message, I found it helpful to use JSON over the obvious alternative, XML.
As an added bonus, if you're familiar with Python or Javascript, you already pretty much know JSON and can interpret it without much training at all.
Try the following code to parse your php json response: read.php
<script
src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.2.1.min.js"
integrity="sha256-hwg4gsxgFZhOsEEamdOYGBf13FyQuiTwlAQgxVSNgt4="
crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
$.ajax({
url:'index.php',
data:{},
type:"POST",
success:function(result) {
jsondecoded = $.parseJSON(result);
$.each(jsondecoded, function(index, value) {
$("#servers").text($("#servers").text() + " " + value.servername);
console.log(value.start);
console.log(value.end);
console.log(value.id);
});
},
statusCode: {
404: function() {
alert( "page not found" );
}
}
});
</script>
server.php
<?php
echo '[{"start":"2017-08-29","end":"2017-09-01","id":"22"},{"start":"2017-09-03","end":"2017-09-06","id":"23"}]';
?>
We have to do a project on college and we faced a very big problem, it is called Same Origin Policy. Amog other things, it makes that your XMLHttpRequest method from Javascript can't make requests to domains other than the domain that your site is on.
For example you can't make request to www.otherexample.com if your site is on www.example.com. JSONRequest allows that, but you will get result in JSON format if that site allows that(for example it has a web service that returns messages in JSON). That is one problem where you could use JSON perhaps.
Here is something practical: Yahoo JSON
I like JSON mainly because it's so terse. For web content that can be gzipped, this isn't necessarily a big deal (hence why xhtml is so popular). But there are occasions where this can be beneficial.
For example, for one project I was transmitting information that needed to be serialized and transmitted via XMPP. Since most servers will limit the amount of data you can transmit in a single message, I found it helpful to use JSON over the obvious alternative, XML.
As an added bonus, if you're familiar with Python or Javascript, you already pretty much know JSON and can interpret it without much training at all.
We have to do a project on college and we faced a very big problem, it is called Same Origin Policy. Amog other things, it makes that your XMLHttpRequest method from Javascript can't make requests to domains other than the domain that your site is on.
For example you can't make request to www.otherexample.com if your site is on www.example.com. JSONRequest allows that, but you will get result in JSON format if that site allows that(for example it has a web service that returns messages in JSON). That is one problem where you could use JSON perhaps.
Here is something practical: Yahoo JSON
In short, it is a scripting notation for passing data about. In some ways an alternative to XML, natively supporting basic data types, arrays and associative arrays (name-value pairs, called Objects because that is what they represent).
The syntax is that used in JavaScript and JSON itself stands for "JavaScript Object Notation". However it has become portable and is used in other languages too.
A useful link for detail is here:
The JSON format is often used for serializing and transmitting structured data over a network connection. It is used primarily to transmit data between a server and web application, serving as an alternative to XML.
JSON is JavaScript Object Notation. It is a much-more compact way of transmitting sets of data across network connections as compared to XML. I suggest JSON be used in any AJAX-like applications where XML would otherwise be the "recommended" option. The verbosity of XML will add to download time and increased bandwidth consumption ($$$). You can accomplish the same effect with JSON and its mark-up is almost exclusively dedicated to the data itself and not the underlying structure.
It's very simple. JSON stands for Java Script Object Notation. Think of it as an alternative to using XML for transferring data between software components.
For example, I recently wrote a bunch of web services that returned JSON, and some Javascript developers then wrote code which called the services and consumed the information returned in that format.
In short - JSON is a way of serializing in such a way, that it becomes JavaScript code. When executed (with eval or otherwise), this code creates and returns a JavaScript object which contains the data you serialized. This is available because JavaScript allows the following syntax:
var MyArray = [ 1, 2, 3, 4]; // MyArray is now an array with 4 elements
var MyObject = {
'StringProperty' : 'Value',
'IntProperty' : 12,
'ArrayProperty' : [ 1, 2, 3],
'ObjectProperty' : { 'SubObjectProperty': 'SomeValue' }
}; // MyObject is now an object with property values set.
You can use this for several purposes. For one, it's a comfortable way to pass data from your server backend to your JavaScript code. Thus, this is often used in AJAX.
You can also use it as a standalone serialization mechanism, which is simpler and takes up less space than XML. Many libraries exists that allow you to serialize and deserialize objects in JSON for various programming languages.
What is JSON? – How I explained it to my wifeTM
Me: “It’s basically a way of communicating with someone in writing....but with very specific rules.
Wife: yeah....?
Me: In prosaic English, the rules are pretty loose: just like with cage fighting. Not so with JSON. There are many ways of describing something:
• Example 1: Our family has 4 people: You, me and 2 kids.
• Example 2: Our family: you, me, kid1 and kid2.
• Example 3: Family: [ you, me, kid1, kid2]
• Example 4: we got 4 people in our family: mum, dad, kid1 and kid2.
Wife: Why don’t they just use plain English instead?
Me: They would, but remember we’re dealing with computers. A computer is stupid and is not going to be able to understand sentences. So we gotta be really specific when computers are involved otherwise they get confused. Furthermore, JSON is a fairly efficient way of communicating, so most of the irrelevant stuff is cut out, which is pretty hand. If you wanted to communicate our family, to a computer, one way you could do so is like this:
{
"Family": ["Me", "Wife", "Kid1", "Kid2"]
}
……and that is basically JSON. But remember, you MUST obey the JSON grammar rules. If you break those rules, then a computer simply will not understand (i.e. parse) what you are writing.
Wife: So how do I write in Json?
A good way would be to use a json serialiser - which is a library which does the heavy lifting for you.
Summary
JSON is basically a way of communicating data to someone, with very, very specific rules. Using Key Value Pairs and Arrays. This is the concept explained, at this point it is worth reading the specific rules above.
Try the following code to parse your php json response: read.php
<script
src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.2.1.min.js"
integrity="sha256-hwg4gsxgFZhOsEEamdOYGBf13FyQuiTwlAQgxVSNgt4="
crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
$.ajax({
url:'index.php',
data:{},
type:"POST",
success:function(result) {
jsondecoded = $.parseJSON(result);
$.each(jsondecoded, function(index, value) {
$("#servers").text($("#servers").text() + " " + value.servername);
console.log(value.start);
console.log(value.end);
console.log(value.id);
});
},
statusCode: {
404: function() {
alert( "page not found" );
}
}
});
</script>
server.php
<?php
echo '[{"start":"2017-08-29","end":"2017-09-01","id":"22"},{"start":"2017-09-03","end":"2017-09-06","id":"23"}]';
?>
In the Java context, one reason why JSON might want to be used, is that it provides a very good alternative to Java's Serialization framework, which has been shown (historically) to be subject to some fairly serious vulnerabilities.
Joshua Bloch discusses this in depth in Item 85 "Prefer Alternatives to Java Serialization" (Effective Java 3rd Edition)
Java's Serialization was initially meant to translate data structures into a format that could be easily transmitted or stored. JSON meets this requirement, without the serious exploits referred to above.
the common short answer is: if you are using AJAX to make data requests, you can easily send and return objects as JSON strings. Available extensions for Javascript support toJSON() calls on all javascript types for sending data to the server in an AJAX request. AJAX responses can return objects as JSON strings which can be converted into Javascript objects by a simple eval call, e.g. if the AJAX function someAjaxFunctionCallReturningJson returned
"{ \"FirstName\" : \"Fred\", \"LastName\" : \"Flintstone\" }"
you could write in Javascript
var obj = eval("(" + someAjaxFunctionCallReturningJson().value + ")");
alert(obj.FirstName);
alert(obj.LastName);
JSON can also be used for web service payloads et al, but it is really convenient for AJAX results.
Sometimes technicality is given where none is required, and while many of the top voted answers are accurately technical and specific, I personally don't think they are any more easy to understand, or succinct, as what can be found on Wikipedia, or in official documentation.
The way I like to think of JSON is exactly what it is - a language within a world of different languages. However, the difference between JSON and other languages is that "everyone" "speaks" JSON, along with their "native language."
Using a real world example, let's pretend we have three people. One person speaks Igbo as their native tongue. The second person would like to interact with the first person, however, the first person speaks Yoruba as their first language.
What can we do?
Thankfully, the third person in our example grew up speaking English, but also happens to speak both Igbo and Yoruba as second languages, and so can act as an intermediary between the first two individuals.
In the programming world, the first "person" is Python, the second "person" is Ruby, and the third "person" is JSON, who just so happens to be able to "translate" Ruby into Python and vice versa! Now obviously this analogy isn't a perfect one, but, as someone who is bilingual, I believe it's an easy way to look at how JSON interacts with other programming languages.
JSON is JavaScript Object Notation. It is a much-more compact way of transmitting sets of data across network connections as compared to XML. I suggest JSON be used in any AJAX-like applications where XML would otherwise be the "recommended" option. The verbosity of XML will add to download time and increased bandwidth consumption ($$$). You can accomplish the same effect with JSON and its mark-up is almost exclusively dedicated to the data itself and not the underlying structure.
The difference between JSON and conventional syntax would be as follows (in Javascript)
Conventional
function Employee(name, Id, Phone, email){
this.name = name;
this.Id = Id;
this.Phone = Phone;
this.email = email;
}
//access or call it as
var Emp = new Employee("mike","123","9373849784","[email protected]");
With JSON
if we use JSON we can define in different way as
function Employee(args){
this.name = args.name;
this.Id = args.Id;
this.Phone = args.Phone;
this.email = args.email;
}
//now access this as...
var Emp = new Employee({'name':'Mike', 'Id':'123', 'Phone':'23792747', 'email':'[email protected]'});
The important thing we have to remember is that, if we have to build the "Employee" class or modal with 100 elements without JSON method we have to parse everything when creating class. But with JSON we can define the objects inline only when a new object for the class is defined.
so this line below is the way of doing things with JSON(just a simple way to define things)
var Emp = new Employee({'name':'Mike', 'Id':'123', 'Phone':'23792747', 'email':'[email protected]'});
We have to do a project on college and we faced a very big problem, it is called Same Origin Policy. Amog other things, it makes that your XMLHttpRequest method from Javascript can't make requests to domains other than the domain that your site is on.
For example you can't make request to www.otherexample.com if your site is on www.example.com. JSONRequest allows that, but you will get result in JSON format if that site allows that(for example it has a web service that returns messages in JSON). That is one problem where you could use JSON perhaps.
Here is something practical: Yahoo JSON
the common short answer is: if you are using AJAX to make data requests, you can easily send and return objects as JSON strings. Available extensions for Javascript support toJSON() calls on all javascript types for sending data to the server in an AJAX request. AJAX responses can return objects as JSON strings which can be converted into Javascript objects by a simple eval call, e.g. if the AJAX function someAjaxFunctionCallReturningJson returned
"{ \"FirstName\" : \"Fred\", \"LastName\" : \"Flintstone\" }"
you could write in Javascript
var obj = eval("(" + someAjaxFunctionCallReturningJson().value + ")");
alert(obj.FirstName);
alert(obj.LastName);
JSON can also be used for web service payloads et al, but it is really convenient for AJAX results.
In short - JSON is a way of serializing in such a way, that it becomes JavaScript code. When executed (with eval or otherwise), this code creates and returns a JavaScript object which contains the data you serialized. This is available because JavaScript allows the following syntax:
var MyArray = [ 1, 2, 3, 4]; // MyArray is now an array with 4 elements
var MyObject = {
'StringProperty' : 'Value',
'IntProperty' : 12,
'ArrayProperty' : [ 1, 2, 3],
'ObjectProperty' : { 'SubObjectProperty': 'SomeValue' }
}; // MyObject is now an object with property values set.
You can use this for several purposes. For one, it's a comfortable way to pass data from your server backend to your JavaScript code. Thus, this is often used in AJAX.
You can also use it as a standalone serialization mechanism, which is simpler and takes up less space than XML. Many libraries exists that allow you to serialize and deserialize objects in JSON for various programming languages.
the common short answer is: if you are using AJAX to make data requests, you can easily send and return objects as JSON strings. Available extensions for Javascript support toJSON() calls on all javascript types for sending data to the server in an AJAX request. AJAX responses can return objects as JSON strings which can be converted into Javascript objects by a simple eval call, e.g. if the AJAX function someAjaxFunctionCallReturningJson returned
"{ \"FirstName\" : \"Fred\", \"LastName\" : \"Flintstone\" }"
you could write in Javascript
var obj = eval("(" + someAjaxFunctionCallReturningJson().value + ")");
alert(obj.FirstName);
alert(obj.LastName);
JSON can also be used for web service payloads et al, but it is really convenient for AJAX results.
We have to do a project on college and we faced a very big problem, it is called Same Origin Policy. Amog other things, it makes that your XMLHttpRequest method from Javascript can't make requests to domains other than the domain that your site is on.
For example you can't make request to www.otherexample.com if your site is on www.example.com. JSONRequest allows that, but you will get result in JSON format if that site allows that(for example it has a web service that returns messages in JSON). That is one problem where you could use JSON perhaps.
Here is something practical: Yahoo JSON
Sometimes technicality is given where none is required, and while many of the top voted answers are accurately technical and specific, I personally don't think they are any more easy to understand, or succinct, as what can be found on Wikipedia, or in official documentation.
The way I like to think of JSON is exactly what it is - a language within a world of different languages. However, the difference between JSON and other languages is that "everyone" "speaks" JSON, along with their "native language."
Using a real world example, let's pretend we have three people. One person speaks Igbo as their native tongue. The second person would like to interact with the first person, however, the first person speaks Yoruba as their first language.
What can we do?
Thankfully, the third person in our example grew up speaking English, but also happens to speak both Igbo and Yoruba as second languages, and so can act as an intermediary between the first two individuals.
In the programming world, the first "person" is Python, the second "person" is Ruby, and the third "person" is JSON, who just so happens to be able to "translate" Ruby into Python and vice versa! Now obviously this analogy isn't a perfect one, but, as someone who is bilingual, I believe it's an easy way to look at how JSON interacts with other programming languages.
The JSON format is often used for serializing and transmitting structured data over a network connection. It is used primarily to transmit data between a server and web application, serving as an alternative to XML.
What is JSON? – How I explained it to my wifeTM
Me: “It’s basically a way of communicating with someone in writing....but with very specific rules.
Wife: yeah....?
Me: In prosaic English, the rules are pretty loose: just like with cage fighting. Not so with JSON. There are many ways of describing something:
• Example 1: Our family has 4 people: You, me and 2 kids.
• Example 2: Our family: you, me, kid1 and kid2.
• Example 3: Family: [ you, me, kid1, kid2]
• Example 4: we got 4 people in our family: mum, dad, kid1 and kid2.
Wife: Why don’t they just use plain English instead?
Me: They would, but remember we’re dealing with computers. A computer is stupid and is not going to be able to understand sentences. So we gotta be really specific when computers are involved otherwise they get confused. Furthermore, JSON is a fairly efficient way of communicating, so most of the irrelevant stuff is cut out, which is pretty hand. If you wanted to communicate our family, to a computer, one way you could do so is like this:
{
"Family": ["Me", "Wife", "Kid1", "Kid2"]
}
……and that is basically JSON. But remember, you MUST obey the JSON grammar rules. If you break those rules, then a computer simply will not understand (i.e. parse) what you are writing.
Wife: So how do I write in Json?
A good way would be to use a json serialiser - which is a library which does the heavy lifting for you.
Summary
JSON is basically a way of communicating data to someone, with very, very specific rules. Using Key Value Pairs and Arrays. This is the concept explained, at this point it is worth reading the specific rules above.
Source: Stackoverflow.com