JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight data interchange format that is easy for humans to read and write, and easy for machines to parse and generate. It is a text format that is completely language-independent but uses conventions that are familiar to programmers of the C family of languages, including C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Perl, Python, and many others.

JSON Syntax:

JSON data is represented as key-value pairs and uses curly braces {} to define objects and square brackets [] to define arrays. Here is a basic overview of JSON syntax:

• Objects: Represented by curly braces {} and consist of key-value pairs separated by commas. Keys and values are strings, and the key is followed by a colon.

{
  "name": "John",
  "age": 30,
  "city": "New York"
}

• Arrays: Represented by square brackets [] and contain ordered lists of values. Values can be strings, numbers, objects, arrays, true, false, or null.

["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

• Values: Can be strings (in double quotes), numbers, objects, arrays, booleans (true or false), or null.

"Hello, World!"

Example JSON Data:

{
  "name": "Alice",
  "age": 25,
  "isStudent": true,
  "grades": [90, 85, 92],
  "address": {
    "city": "Wonderland",
    "country": "Fictional Land"
  },
  "languages": ["English", "French"]
}

JSON in Python:

Python provides a built-in module called json for encoding and decoding JSON data.

Encoding (Python to JSON):

import json

data = {
    "name": "Alice",
    "age": 25,
    "isStudent": True,
    "grades": [90, 85, 92],
    "address": {
        "city": "Wonderland",
        "country": "Fictional Land"
    },
    "languages": ["English", "French"]
}

json_data = json.dumps(data, indent=2)  # Converts Python data to JSON string
print(json_data)

Decoding (JSON to Python):

import json

json_data = '''
{
  "name": "Alice",
  "age": 25,
  "isStudent": true,
  "grades": [90, 85, 92],
  "address": {
    "city": "Wonderland",
    "country": "Fictional Land"
  },
  "languages": ["English", "French"]
}
'''

python_data = json.loads(json_data)  # Converts JSON string to Python data
print(python_data)

The json.dumps() function is used for encoding Python data to a JSON-formatted string, and json.loads() is used for decoding a JSON string to Python data.

JSON is commonly used for data exchange between a server and a web application, configuration files, and various other scenarios where a simple and human-readable data format is required.