JSON Introduction

Online Example

With our editor, you can edit JavaScript code online and then view the results by clicking a button:

JSON Example

Similarities with XML

• JSON is pure text
• JSON is "self-describing" (human-readable)
• JSON has a hierarchical structure (values within values)
• JSON can be parsed by JavaScript
• JSON data can be transmitted using AJAX

Differences with XML

• No end tags
• Shorter
• Faster read and write speeds
• Can be parsed using JavaScript's built-in eval() method
• Uses arrays
• Does not use reserved words

Why Use JSON?

For AJAX applications, JSON is faster and easier to use than XML:

Using XML

• Read the XML document
• Use XML DOM to loop through the document
• Read values and store them in variables

Using JSON

• Read the JSON string
• Process the JSON string with eval()