JSON vs XML

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" }  ]}

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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>

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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 many programming languages.
• Both JSON and XML can be fetched with an XMLHttpRequest.

JSON is Unlike XML Because

• JSON doesn't use end tags.
• 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, whereas 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:

1. Fetch an XML document.
2. Use the XML DOM to loop through the document.
3. Extract values and store them in variables.

Using JSON:

1. Fetch a JSON string.
2. Parse the JSON string into a JavaScript object using JSON.parse().
3. Access the data directly from the JavaScript object.

Example:

Fetching and Parsing JSON:

let jsonString = '{"employees":[{"firstName":"John","lastName":"Doe"},{"firstName":"Anna","lastName":"Smith"},{"firstName":"Peter","lastName":"Jones"}]}';let obj = JSON.parse(jsonString);let firstName = obj.employees[0].firstName; // John

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Fetching and Parsing XML:

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let xmlString = '<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>';let parser = new DOMParser();let xmlDoc = parser.parseFromString(xmlString, "text/xml");let firstName = xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName("firstName")[0].childNodes[0].nodeValue; // John

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