JavaScript Object Notation has become a fundamental part of modern web development, serving as the backbone for data transfer in most web applications. It`s a lightweight data-interchange format that is easy for humans to read and write, and easy for machines to parse and generate. JSON at its core is a text format, completely independent of any language, which is why it can be so widely used.

Why use it?

• Lightweight - JSON is lighter than other data formats like XML, making it quicker to load and parse.
• Human-readable - The structure of JSON is simple and clear, which makes it very easy to read and understand.
• Widely Supported - JSON is supported natively by most modern programming languages and platforms.

Structure example

If you have ever worked with an object, dictionary, hash table or similar in programming, you should be familiar with key/value pair concept. That is exactly what JSON data is:

{
  "website": "briefly.dev",
  "description": "Are you into software development? Grow and expand your knowledge with brief overviews on key topics.",
  "email": "contact@briefly.dev",
  "tags": ["nodejs", "aws", "python", "programming"]
}

Practical use

• Data interchange - Between server and web applications JSON serves as a format for transmitting structured data over a network and.
• Configuration files - JSON is frequently used in configuration files of modern programming frameworks and applications due to its ease of use.
• Data storage - Some databases like MongoDB use JSON (or its binary equivalent, BSON) for storing data.

Stay tuned for more insights into web development practices and see you in the next post!