What Is JSON? – Real Python (2024)

FAQs

What Is JSON? – Real Python? ›

JSON represents objects as name/value pairs, just like a Python dictionary. Serialization is the process of encoding data into JSON format (like converting a Python list to JSON).

JSON stands for JavaScript Object Notation and is a lightweight format for storing and transporting data. JSON is often used when data is sent from a server to a web page. Python has the built-in module json , which allow us to work with JSON data.

JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is a standard text-based format for representing structured data based on JavaScript object syntax. It is commonly used for transmitting data in web applications (e.g., sending some data from the server to the client, so it can be displayed on a web page, or vice versa).

JSON plays an important role in Python programming because it allows efficient data serialization and deserialization. It enables Python programs to effortlessly communicate with web services, exchange data, and store structured information.

The reason for this is that JSON keys are always strings, and not all Python data types can be converted to JSON data types.

JSON can also be written to a file using the json. dump() method. Without first converting the dictionary into a JSON object, the "dump" function of the JSON package simply writes the dictionary to a file in the JSON format.

Python also provides a command-line tool for working with JSON, called `json. tool`. This tool is useful for formatting JSON data directly from the command line. You can use it to validate and pretty-print JSON data without writing a Python script.

JSON allows developers to store various data types as human-readable code, with the keys serving as names and the values containing related data. JSON syntax is derived from JavaScript object notation syntax: Data is in key/value pairs. Data is separated by commas.

JSON Explained

Developers often prefer JSON because it simplifies the exchange of data between different technologies. For example, when a user interacts with a web application to make a purchase, the application sends the user's input to the server in JSON format.

The JSON function returns the JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) representation of a data structure as text so that it's suitable for storing or transmitting across a network.

What is the Python equivalent of JSON? ›

JSON serves as a lightweight data interchange format, facilitating efficient data transmission between systems, while Python offers a rich ecosystem for data manipulation, analysis, and automation.

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight data-interchange format that has become a popular choice for data exchange in many programming languages, including Python.

orjson is a fast, correct JSON library for Python. It benchmarks as the fastest Python library for JSON and is more correct than the standard json library or other third-party libraries. It serializes dataclass, datetime, numpy, and UUID instances natively.

To read JSON data, you can use the built-in json module (JSON Encoder and Decoder) in Python. The json module provides two methods, loads and load, that allow you to parse JSON strings and JSON files, respectively, to convert JSON into Python objects such as lists and dictionaries.

Developers often prefer JSON because it simplifies the exchange of data between different technologies. For example, when a user interacts with a web application to make a purchase, the application sends the user's input to the server in JSON format.

Any Dictionary you have can generally be put into JSON format. This shouldn't be a surprise because JSON is the same shorthand format as Python's dictionaries and lists.

The JSON API specification is a powerful way for enabling communication between client and server. It specifies the structure of the requests and responses sent between the two, using the JSON format. As a data format, JSON has the advantages of being lightweight and readable.