What is JSON?
The internet runs on data. For applications and servers to communicate effectively, they need a common language that's both easy for computers to parse and somewhat human-readable. This is where JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) enters the scene. JSON is a lightweight data format, now the lingua franca of web data exchange.
In short, JSON makes data sharing on the web simple and efficient. It's like a universal translator for applications, allowing them to communicate and exchange information smoothly.
To get a better idea, let's jump right into some sample JSON data. Let's say you make an API request to fetch weather data for a city. A typical JSON response might look like this:
We also have primitive types, which are raw data types that cannot be broken down further. Here's a breakdown of the primitive data types used in this example:
Note that the initial JSON structure doesn’t need to be an object. It could also be a primitive data type like a string, number, boolean, or an array. However, in most cases, the top-level structure is an object, as it allows for more complex data structures to be represented.
