Understanding how to convert between complex file types will allow you to optimize and perfect your operations, ensuring your data is always in the appropriate form. The two formats featured in today’s tutorial are JSON and XML. Both formats are widely used in web-based applications, but one may be more ideal than the other for certain objects. JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is defined as an open standard file and data-interchange format that uses human-readable text to store and exchange data. It was initially developed from JavaScript, but as a language-independent format it can be used in many different programming languages. Due to its versatility, efficient design, and low cost, JSON has become a go-to for many businesses.
Our other format, Extensible Markup Language (XML), is similar to JSON in that they both are easy to read, create, and decode. However, XML uses prescribed tags that divide information according to its traits and has limiting factors associated with characters (i.e. !”*(), etc.). While this option may contain a higher word count due to the tags, it does allow for more precision in how data is read by the computer, including improved metadata usability, which is unavailable in JSON.