Difference between XML and JSON



Difference between XML and JSON


Distinguish, differentiate, compare and explain what is the difference between XML and JSON. Comparison and Differences.

What is XML?

XML is a language that captures information in a machine-readable way. The elements are structured in a hierarchy and all information is included between tags. All tags have to be kept opened and closed in the level they belong to. Therefore, every piece of information is logically categorized and named. The rules defining how the information is captured is documented in a schema and the schema is the blueprint for every document and allows validation of the content.

What is JSON?

Just like XML, JSON is self-describing, hierarchical and can be parsed. But unlike XML, JSON doesn’t have tags per se. The data is a pair of name and value which makes the same information in JSON much “thinner” than in XML. There is much less overhead. JSON is the abbreviation for “JavaScript Object Notation” and is a text-based format. It is used for the data exchange between applications. As it is a “child” of JavaScript, the content is a valid script and can be easily parsed by most of the web applications currently in use. JSON is completely independent from its parent programming language JavaScript.

The biggest difference between XML and JSON is that XML has to be parsed with a dedicated parser. JSON can be parsed by a standard JavaScript function, which makes the processing a lot faster.

Difference between XML and JSON

 
S.No. XML JSON
1 Uses XSD Validation Has no Validation
2 Includes namespaces No requirement of namespaces
3 Requires parsing and XML doc is parsed through parameters like xpath etc. In JSON, parsing is just an eval. Therefore it is fast.
4 JavaScript work with strings and it may require additional parsing. JavaScript can work with objects-run time evaluation of types.
5 XML write JavaScript to parse the xml objects. JSON is a JavaScript object.
6 It is heavy It is light weight

JSON was originally meant to replace XML, however it did not replace it in every case. The need of an implicit validation of a document still makes XML an option to consider. XML is a format that is designed to store and archive documents because of its ability to contain validated transparent data. XML is NOT a thin format to be used to transport data. Its larger and more data-heavy structure decreases the performance of a transmission between applications.

The disadvantages of XML are the main advantages of JSON. The JSON structure concentrates on the data, lowering the overhead. The way JSON self-describes, makes it the best performing data format to transport heterogenic data. Lastly, and perhaps its best argument in favor of it, JSON is much cheaper to integrate.




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Difference between JSON vs XML

XML vs JSON

Differences between JSON vs XML

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