JSON

Programming
Copyright © 2024 by
Robert M. Dondero, Ph.D.
Princeton University

1
 Objectives
• We will cover:
– JSON
– JSON programming
– XML/JSON and AJAX

2
 Agenda
• JSON
• JSON programming
• XML/JSON and AJAX

3
 JSON
• JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)
– Like XML:
• Textual; human readable
• Hierarchical
– Unlike XML:
• Derived from JavaScript array and object
notation

4
 JSON
• JSON document
– A source code expression of a JavaScript
data structure
• JavaScript data structure can consist of:
– Strings, Numbers, Booleans, or null
– Objects or arrays having properties that are Strings,
Numbers, Booleans, null, objects, or arrays
• See [Link]

5
 JSON
JSON for data comm

JSON
Schema

Process1 Process2

App1 JSON doc App2

JSON JSON
Generator Parser

6
 JSON
• Examples in this lecture:
– In Python
• Appropriate for JSON programming on the
server-side of a Web app
– In JavaScript
• Appropriate for JSON programming on the
client-side of a Web app (i.e., in a browser)

7
 Agenda
• JSON
• JSON programming
• XML/JSON and AJAX

8
 JSON Programming
• writebooksjson programs

– Write all books in [Link]

9
 JSON Programming
• See [Link]

$ python [Link]
Author: Kernighan
Title: The Practice of Programming JSON Python
Price: 40.74 dollars
array list
Author: Kernighan object dict
Title: The C Programming Language
Price: 24.99 dollars
Number int, float
String str
Author: Sedgewick
Title: Algorithms in C
Boolean bool
Price: 61.59 dollars null None
$

10
 JSON Programming
• See [Link]

$ node [Link]
Author: Kernighan
Title: The Practice of Programming
Price: 40.74 dollars

Author: Kernighan
Title: The C Programming Language
Price: 24.99 dollars

Author: Sedgewick
Title: Algorithms in C
Price: 61.59 dollars

11
 JSON Programming
• roundtrip programs

– Translate from JSON to data structure

– Translate from data structure to JSON

12
 JSON Programming
• See [Link]

$ python [Link] [Link]

[{"author": "Kernighan", "title": "The
Practice of Programming", "price": 40.74,
"currency": "dollars"}, {"author":
"Kernighan", "title": "The C Programming
Language", "price": 24.99, "currency":
"dollars"}, {"author": "Sedgewick",
"title": "Algorithms in C", "price":
61.59, "currency": "dollars"}]
$

13
 JSON Programming
• See [Link]

$ node [Link]
[{"author":"Kernighan","title":"The Practice of
Programming","price":40.74,"currency":"dollars"},
{"author":"Kernighan","title":"The C Programming
Language","price":24.99,"currency":"dollars"},{"a
uthor":"Sedgewick","title":"Algorithms in
C","price":61.59,"currency":"dollars"}]

14
 JSON Programming
• XML pros
– Appropriate for data comm and publishing
• JSON pros
– Compact
– Easy to handle in JavaScript
– Easy to handle in Python, …
– OK to handle in Java, …

15
 Aside: Data Comm Formats
• Data comm formats
– Binary:
• Pickled Python objects, …
– Human readable:
• plain text, HTML, XML, JSON, …
• See:
– [Link]
data_serialization_formats

16
 Agenda
• JSON
• JSON programming
• XML/JSON and AJAX

17
 XML/JSON and AJAX
• Recall PennyJQuery3 app

18
 XML/JSON and AJAX
• Recall PennyJQuery3 app

19
 XML/JSON and AJAX
• Recall PennyJQuery3 app
– [Link]
– [Link], [Link]
– [Link], [Link]
– [Link]
– [Link]
– [Link]

20
 XML/JSON and AJAX
• Observation
– Server sends AJAX response as HTML
– Server could send AJAX response as XML or
JSON

21
 XML/JSON and AJAX
• See PennyJQueryXml app
– [Link]
– [Link], [Link]
– [Link], [Link]
– [Link]
– [Link]
– [Link]

22
 XML/JSON and AJAX
• See PennyJQueryJson app
– [Link]
– [Link], [Link]
– [Link], [Link]
– [Link]
– [Link]
– [Link]

23
 Question (lecture19)
• So the server could send XML/JSON
fragments instead of HTML fragments.
Why should the server send XML/JSON
fragments instead of HTML fragments?
(No fair looking at the following slides.)

– Browse to
[Link] to
answer

24
 XML/JSON and AJAX
• Answer 1: Sending XML/JSON is more
secure
AJAX request

Browser Application
HTML fragment

Browser inserts HTML fragment into DOM

Dangerous!

25
 XML/JSON and AJAX
• Answer 2: Sending XML or JSON defines
a convenient API
– Example…

26
 XML/JSON and AJAX
• See [Link]
$ python [Link] localhost 55555 ker
Kernighan
The Practice of Programming
40.74

Kernighan
The C Programming Language
24.99

27
 Summary
• We have covered:
– JSON
– JSON programming
– XML/JSON and AJAX
• See also:
– Appendix: JSON Checking

28
 Appendix:
JSON Checking

29
 JSON Checking
• To run the example Python programs in
this appendix:
– python –m pip install jsonschema

30
JSON Checking: Well-Formedness
• Computer science jargon…
– A JSON document is well-formed iff it
conforms to the JSON specification

31
JSON Checking: Well-Formedness
• See [Link] (revisited)
• See [Link]
• See [Link]

$ python [Link] [Link]

The document is well-formed.
$ python [Link] [Link]
Expecting ',' delimiter: line 15 column 7 (char 353)
$

32
 JSON Checking: Validity
• JSON Schemas
– Internet draft
• Published by Internet Engineering Task Force
• 12th draft released 2022 June 10
• See [Link]
• See Wikipedia JSON page
– A JSON schema defines whether a JSON
doc is valid

33
 JSON Checking: Validity
• See [Link]
• See [Link] (revisited)
• See [Link]
• See [Link]

34
 JSON Checking: Validity
$ python [Link] [Link] [Link]
The document is well-formed.
The document is valid.
$ python [Link] [Link] [Link]
The document is well-formed.
'currency' is a required property

Failed validating 'required' in schema['items']:

{'properties': {'author': {'type': 'string'},
'currency': {'type': 'string'},
'price': {'type': 'number'},
'title': {'type': 'string'}},
'required': ['author', 'title', 'price', 'currency'],
'type': 'object'}

On instance[2]:
{'author': 'Sedgewick', 'price': 61.59, 'title': 'Algorithms in
C'}
$

35