JSON stands for (JavaScript Object Notation).

The word JavaScript may mislead people that JavaScript is required to learn JSON. But this is not true. JavaScript here is in name because JSON is based on a subset of JavaScript.

• JSON is a lightweight data interchange format. Another commonly used data interchange format is XML.
• JSON is a text format.
• JSON is language independent.
• JSON is based on a subset of the JavaScript Programming Language Standard ECMA-262 3rd Edition – December 1999.
• JSON is easy for humans to read and write.
• JSON is easy for machines to generate and parse.

A simple example of JSON is:

{
   "name":"James",
   "age":"30",
   "country":"France"
}

Why JSON is popular

• JSON is readable. You can read JSON and tell what it represents.
• JSON is easy to understand and parse. Parsers are easily available to parse JSON data.
• JSON has text format which is supported by most of the languages.
• JSON is commonly used in REST services.
• JSON can be saved easily in a file or sent over network.