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JSON vs XML

2 min read

Both JSON and XML can be used to receive data from a web server.

The following JSON and XML examples both define an employees object, with an array of 3 employees:

JSON Example #

{"employees":[ { "firstName":"John", "lastName":"Doe" }, { "firstName":"Anna", "lastName":"Smith" }, { "firstName":"Peter", "lastName":"Jones" } ]}

XML Example #

<employees> <employee> <firstName>John</firstName> <lastName>Doe</lastName> </employee> <employee> <firstName>Anna</firstName> <lastName>Smith</lastName> </employee> <employee> <firstName>Peter</firstName> <lastName>Jones</lastName> </employee> </employees>

 JSON is Like XML Because #

  • Both JSON and XML are “self describing” (human readable)
  • Both JSON and XML are hierarchical (values within values)
  • Both JSON and XML can be parsed and used by lots of programming languages
  • Both JSON and XML can be fetched with an XMLHttpRequest

JSON is Unlike XML Because #

  • JSON doesn’t use end tag
  • JSON is shorter
  • JSON is quicker to read and write
  • JSON can use arrays

The biggest difference is:

 XML has to be parsed with an XML parser. JSON can be parsed by a standard JavaScript function.

Why JSON is Better Than XML #

XML is much more difficult to parse than JSON.
JSON is parsed into a ready-to-use JavaScript object.

For AJAX applications, JSON is faster and easier than XML:

Using XML

  • Fetch an XML document
  • Use the XML DOM to loop through the document
  • Extract values and store in variables

Using JSON

  • Fetch a JSON string
  • JSON.Parse the JSON string

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