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The Professional Developer Series
Volume 2, Web Development
Chapter 1.3 Web Development Today
Page: #15

So we have mentioned JSON a little bit here and there, but so far I haven’t made any clear indication of what it is. JSON or JavaScript Object Notation for all intensive purposes is just another alternative way of structuring data for transmission through the network. The core objective of JSON is similar to XML, and is particularly well suited for webapplications. Less bulky data transmission, direct conversion into javascript objects, various transmission techniques, and cross-domain data communication are just some of the advantages of JSON.  Later, this book will show you how to create web/desktop application hybrids, JSON is the only technology that would allow such functionality.

So what is JSON really? Without teaching you the language (that will come later), you can for now just think of it as data wrapped in javascript based constructs. It really is just javascript, nothing to magical. The neat thing is several server libraries (for various langauges) have been written to generate and read javascript code in accordance with a recognized standard. So rather then having your webapplication passing around xml data, it may simply pass around JSON data instead. Finally; JSON does not make xml by any means obsolete, you still need xml for things like the W3C Specs (RSS, SOAP,XSLT, XHTML, SVG, etc) it is also often used as a “reference dataset” in high traffic systems as shown below.

An Advanced Content Distribution System, Using XML As The Reference Dataset

XML is still nessesary for most web development today, so really it is all about the best tool for the job when deciding what to use and why. This book will make that decision clear later on, but for now I am just making you aware whats out there. So where can we find out more about json? Well this book will go over some of the basics related to webapplication development. In the short term, if you are looking to develop backend systems which will deliver JSON data; Douglas Crockford’s JSON Website has libraries for just about every langauge out there. Mr. Crockford, is well known for introducing JSON, as well as being a lead senior architect for Yahoo.

Finally: What we will not go over, is the creation of JSON data by a server. That will most likely be handled by another book in the future.