JSON

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight computer data interchange format. It is a text-based, human-readable format for representing simple data structures and associative arrays (called objects). The JSON format is specified in RFC 4627 by Douglas Crockford. The official Internet media type for JSON is application/json.

The JSON format is often used for transmitting structured data over a network connection in a process called serialization. Its main application is in Ajax web application programming, where it serves as an alternative to the traditional use of the XML format.

Although JSON was based on a subset of the JavaScript programming language and is commonly used with that language, it is considered to be a language-independent data format. Code for parsing and generating JSON data is readily available for a large variety of programming languages. The json.org website provides a comprehensive listing of existing JSON bindings, organized by language.

More and more Ajax developers are choosing JSON for their data
transfer instead of XML. Although XML has been the pillar of Ajax (X
is for XML), JSON has become the choice of most developers because it
was particularly built for JavaScript. Compared to XML, JSON is
lighter and will work faster compared to XML. This lightweight
function enables Ajax based websites and applications to run faster.

The reason why JSON is very efficient in data transmission is its
ability to function in itself. By this function we mean that JSON has
the ability to "EXECUTE" without the aid of other functions. XML is
only a format which will be used to transmit data and files, but JSON
is very effective in terms self execution.

More Information : http://www.json.org/