Why do we use JSON when a more human-friendly notation would be more readable, more maintainable, and create less confusion? JSON is robot barf. Don’t get me wrong. JSON is a fine serialization format for data and I have no problem with it in that context. My beef is with the use of JSON for configuration files, policy specs, and so on. If JSON were all we had, then we’d have to live with it. But we’ve been building parsers for almost 70 years now. The technology is well understood. There are multiple libraries in every language for parsing. And yet, even very mature, well supported frameworks and platforms (e.g. AWS) persist in using JSON instead of a human-friendly notation.
JSON is Robot Barf; Technometria - Issue #26
JSON is Robot Barf; Technometria - Issue #26
JSON is Robot Barf; Technometria - Issue #26
Why do we use JSON when a more human-friendly notation would be more readable, more maintainable, and create less confusion? JSON is robot barf. Don’t get me wrong. JSON is a fine serialization format for data and I have no problem with it in that context. My beef is with the use of JSON for configuration files, policy specs, and so on. If JSON were all we had, then we’d have to live with it. But we’ve been building parsers for almost 70 years now. The technology is well understood. There are multiple libraries in every language for parsing. And yet, even very mature, well supported frameworks and platforms (e.g. AWS) persist in using JSON instead of a human-friendly notation.