7.1. JSON About

  • JavaScript Object Notation

  • JSON format is similar to dict notation in Python

  • Fields are enclosed only by double quote " character

  • Instead of True there is true (lowercase)

  • Instead of False there is false (lowercase)

  • Instead of None there is null

  • list is known as array (despite the same syntax)

  • dict is known as object (despite the same syntax)

  • There is no tuple or set

  • Coma , is not allowed after the last element in list or object

  • camelCase is convention, although snake_case is also valid

  • Unicode characters are stored as unicode entities ("cze\\u015b\\u0107")

Python dict:

{"name": "Mark Watney", "age": 42, "is_astronaut": True, "friends": None}

JSON object:

{"name": "Mark Watney", "age": 42, "is_astronaut": true, "friends": null}

7.1.1. JSON or Python?

  • JSON or Python list[dict]?

{'mission': 'Ares 3',
 'launch_date': datetime(2035, 6, 29),
 'destination': 'Mars',
 'destination_landing': datetime(2035, 11, 7),
 'destination_location': 'Acidalia Planitia',
 'crew': [{'name': 'Melissa Lewis', 'born': date(1995, 7, 15)},
          {'name': 'Rick Martinez', 'born': date(1996, 1, 21)},
          {'name': 'Alex Vogel', 'born': date(1994, 11, 15)},
          {'name': 'Chris Beck', 'born': date(1999, 8, 2)},
          {'name': 'Beth Johanssen', 'born': date(2006, 5, 9)},
          {'name': 'Mark Watney', 'born': date(1994, 10, 12)}]}

{"mission": "Ares 3",
 "launch_date": "2035-06-29T00:00:00",
 "destination": "Mars",
 "destination_landing": "2035-11-07T00:00:00",
 "destination_location": "Acidalia Planitia",
 "crew": [{"name": "Melissa Lewis", "born": "1995-07-15"},
          {"name": "Rick Martinez", "born": "1996-01-21"},
          {"name": "Alex Vogel", "born": "1994-11-15"},
          {"name": "Chris Beck", "born": "1999-08-02"},
          {"name": "Beth Johanssen", "born": "2006-05-09"},
          {"name": "Mark Watney", "born": "1994-10-12"}]}

[
    {"firstname": "Mark", "lastname": "Watney", "missions": [
        {"year": "2035", "name": "Ares3"}]},

    {"firstname": "Melissa", "lastname": "Lewis", "missions": [
         {"year": "2030", "name": "Ares1"},
         {"year": "2035", "name": "Ares3"}]},

    {"firstname": "Rick", "lastname": "Martinez", "missions": []}
]

7.1.2. Pretty Printing JSON

  • JSON can be minified to save space for network transmission

  • It is not very readable

Minified JSON file:

$ DATA='https://python.astrotech.io/_static/iris.json'
$ curl $DATA
[{"sepalLength":5.1,"sepalWidth":3.5,"petalLength":1.4,"petalWidth":0.2,"species":"setosa"},{"sepalLength":4.9,"sepalWidth":3,"petalLength":1.4,"petalWidth":0.2,"species":"setosa"},{"sepalLength":4.7,"sepalWidth":3.2,"petalLength":1.3,"petalWidth":0.2,"species":"setosa"},{"sepalLength":4.6,"sepalWidth":3.1,"petalLength":1.5,"petalWidth":0.2,"species":"setosa"},{"sepalLength":5,"sepalWidth":3.6,"petalLength":1.4,"petalWidth":0.2,"species":"setosa"},{"sepalLength":5.4,"sepalWidth":3.9,"petalLength":1.7,"petalWidth":0.4,"species":"setosa"},{"sepalLength":4.6,"sepalWidth":3.4,"petalLength":1.4,"petalWidth":0.3,"species":"setosa"},{"sepalLength":5,"sepalWidth":3.4,"petalLength":1.5,"petalWidth":0.2,"species":"setosa"},{"sepalLength":4.4,"sepalWidth":2.9,"petalLength":1.4,"petalWidth":0.2,"species":"setosa"},{"sepalLength":4.9,"sepalWidth":3.1,"petalLength":1.5,"petalWidth":0.1,"species":"setosa"},{"sepalLength":7,"sepalWidth":3.2,"petalLength":4.7,"petalWidth":1.4,"species":"versicolor"},{"sepalLength":6.4,"sepalWidth":3.2,"petalLength":4.5,"petalWidth":1.5,"species":"versicolor"},{"sepalLength":6.9,"sepalWidth":3.1,"petalLength":4.9,"petalWidth":1.5,"species":"versicolor"},{"sepalLength":5.5,"sepalWidth":2.3,"petalLength":4,"petalWidth":1.3,"species":"versicolor"},{"sepalLength":6.5,"sepalWidth":2.8,"petalLength":4.6,"petalWidth":1.5,"species":"versicolor"},{"sepalLength":5.7,"sepalWidth":2.8,"petalLength":4.5,"petalWidth":1.3,"species":"versicolor"},{"sepalLength":6.3,"sepalWidth":3.3,"petalLength":4.7,"petalWidth":1.6,"species":"versicolor"},{"sepalLength":4.9,"sepalWidth":2.4,"petalLength":3.3,"petalWidth":1,"species":"versicolor"},{"sepalLength":6.6,"sepalWidth":2.9,"petalLength":4.6,"petalWidth":1.3,"species":"versicolor"},{"sepalLength":5.2,"sepalWidth":2.7,"petalLength":3.9,"petalWidth":1.4,"species":"versicolor"},{"sepalLength":6.3,"sepalWidth":3.3,"petalLength":6,"petalWidth":2.5,"species":"virginica"},{"sepalLength":5.8,"sepalWidth":2.7,"petalLength":5.1,"petalWidth":1.9,"species":"virginica"},{"sepalLength":7.1,"sepalWidth":3,"petalLength":5.9,"petalWidth":2.1,"species":"virginica"},{"sepalLength":6.3,"sepalWidth":2.9,"petalLength":5.6,"petalWidth":1.8,"species":"virginica"},{"sepalLength":6.5,"sepalWidth":3,"petalLength":5.8,"petalWidth":2.2,"species":"virginica"},{"sepalLength":7.6,"sepalWidth":3,"petalLength":6.6,"petalWidth":2.1,"species":"virginica"},{"sepalLength":4.9,"sepalWidth":2.5,"petalLength":4.5,"petalWidth":1.7,"species":"virginica"},{"sepalLength":7.3,"sepalWidth":2.9,"petalLength":6.3,"petalWidth":1.8,"species":"virginica"},{"sepalLength":6.7,"sepalWidth":2.5,"petalLength":5.8,"petalWidth":1.8,"species":"virginica"},{"sepalLength":7.2,"sepalWidth":3.6,"petalLength":6.1,"petalWidth":2.5,"species":"virginica"}]

Pretty Printing JSON:

$ DATA='https://python.astrotech.io/_static/iris.json'
$ curl $DATA |python -m json.tool
[
    {
        "petalLength": 1.4,
        "petalWidth": 0.2,
        "sepalLength": 5.1,
        "sepalWidth": 3.5,
        "species": "setosa"
    },
    {
        "petalLength": 1.4,
        "petalWidth": 0.2,
        "sepalLength": 4.9,
        "sepalWidth": 3,
        "species": "setosa"
    },
...

json.tool checks JSON syntax validity:

$ echo '{"sepalLength":5.1,"sepalWidth":3.5,}' | python -m json.tool
Expecting property name enclosed in double quotes: line 1 column 37 (char 36)

7.1.3. Use Case - 0x01

[{"firstname": "Pan", "lastname": "Twardowski", "addresses": [
    {"street": "Kamienica Pod św. Janem Kapistranem", "city": "Kraków", "post_code": "31-008", "region": "Małopolskie", "country": "Poland"}]},

 {"firstname": "Mark", "lastname": "Watney", "addresses": [
    {"street": "2101 E NASA Pkwy", "city": "Houston", "post_code": 77058, "region": "Texas", "country": "USA"},
    {"street": "", "city": "Kennedy Space Center", "post_code": 32899, "region": "Florida", "country": "USA"}]},

 {"firstname": "Melissa", "lastname": "Lewis", "addresses": [
    {"street": "4800 Oak Grove Dr", "city": "Pasadena", "post_code": 91109, "region": "California", "country": "USA"},
    {"street": "2825 E Ave P", "city": "Palmdale", "post_code": 93550, "region": "California", "country": "USA"}]},

 {"firstname": "Rick", "lastname": "Martinez", "addresses": []},

 {"firstname": "Alex", "lastname": "Vogel", "addresses": [
    {"street": "Linder Hoehe", "city": "Köln", "post_code": 51147, "region": "North Rhine-Westphalia", "country": "Germany"}]}]