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  5. JSON vs Markdown

JSON vs Markdown

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Markdown
Markdown
Stacks22.1K
Followers16.5K
Votes960
JSON
JSON
Stacks2.0K
Followers1.6K
Votes9

JSON vs Markdown: What are the differences?

Markdown and JSON are both widely used in web development, but they serve different purposes and have distinct features. Here are the key differences between JSON and Markdown:
  1. Structure vs Formatting: JSON is a data interchange format used for storing and transferring structured data, while Markdown is a lightweight markup language used for formatting plain text documents. JSON focuses on representing data in a structured manner, whereas Markdown focuses on enhancing the readability and presentation of text.

  2. Data vs Text: JSON is primarily used for representing and manipulating data, often in the form of objects and arrays. It allows for complex data structures, such as nested objects and arrays, and supports key-value pairs. On the other hand, Markdown is designed for writing and formatting text, providing simple syntax for making the text bold, italic, adding headers, links, etc.

  3. Programmatically Processable vs Human-readable: JSON is designed to be easily parsed and processed by machines, making it an ideal format for transmitting data between a server and a client. It is often used with programming languages and APIs. Markdown, on the other hand, is intended to be readable by humans, allowing for easy editing and collaboration. It is commonly used for writing documentation, blog posts, and other textual content.

  4. Extensibility vs Simplicity: JSON is extensible, meaning users can define and create custom data structures and add additional properties to objects. It provides flexibility in representing complex data types. Markdown, on the other hand, follows a simple and fixed set of formatting rules. While it offers some extensions like tables and task lists, it lacks the extensibility and versatility of JSON.

  5. Strict Syntax vs Loose Syntax: JSON has a strict syntax that requires properly quoted keys and values, as well as correct placement of commas and brackets. It follows a specific set of rules and allows no room for error. Markdown, on the other hand, has a more forgiving and loose syntax. It allows for flexibility in terms of white spaces, line breaks, and formatting, making it easier to write and read.

  6. Data Validation vs Raw Text: JSON supports data validation through various schema languages like JSON Schema. It allows users to define rules and constraints for validating the structure and content of JSON data. Markdown, however, does not have built-in capabilities for data validation. It primarily focuses on the presentation of text and does not provide mechanisms for enforcing data correctness.

In summary, JSON is used for structured data representation and transfer, suitable for machine processing and data validation, while Markdown is a lightweight markup language for text formatting, focusing on human readability and simple syntax.

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Advice on Markdown, JSON

Dhinesh
Dhinesh

architect

Jun 16, 2020

Needs adviceonJSONJSONPythonPython

Hi. Currently, I have a requirement where I have to create a new JSON file based on the input CSV file, validate the generated JSON file, and upload the JSON file into the application (which runs in AWS) using API. Kindly suggest the best language that can meet the above requirement. I feel Python will be better, but I am not sure with the justification of why python. Can you provide your views on this?

350k views350k
Comments
Rick
Rick

founder at Webcompose.ca

May 8, 2020

Needs adviceonGitHubGitHubMarkdownMarkdownnpmnpm

I am a newbie to StackShare and the GitHub community. I want to understand how to use an include statement to get a collection of Markdown files to create a book. I have been told that there are a number of useful tools. My problem is that npm and Node.js are also very new to me. Any suggestions on how to get my md chapters into a printable document would be helpful.

80.3k views80.3k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Markdown
Markdown
JSON
JSON

Markdown is two things: (1) a plain text formatting syntax; and (2) a software tool, written in Perl, that converts the plain text formatting to HTML.

JavaScript Object Notation is a lightweight data-interchange format. It is easy for humans to read and write. It is easy for machines to parse and generate. It is based on a subset of the JavaScript Programming Language.

Statistics
Stacks
22.1K
Stacks
2.0K
Followers
16.5K
Followers
1.6K
Votes
960
Votes
9
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 345
    Easy formatting
  • 246
    Widely adopted
  • 194
    Intuitive
  • 132
    Github integration
  • 41
    Great for note taking
Cons
  • 2
    Cannot centralise (HTML code needed)
  • 1
    Limited syntax
  • 1
    Inconsistend flavours eg github, reddit, mmd etc
  • 1
    Unable to indent tables
  • 1
    No right indentation
Pros
  • 5
    Simple
  • 4
    Widely supported
Integrations
No integrations available
MongoDB
MongoDB
PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL
MySQL
MySQL
JavaScript
JavaScript
JSON Server
JSON Server
JSONlite
JSONlite

What are some alternatives to Markdown, JSON?

JavaScript

JavaScript

JavaScript is most known as the scripting language for Web pages, but used in many non-browser environments as well such as node.js or Apache CouchDB. It is a prototype-based, multi-paradigm scripting language that is dynamic,and supports object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles.

Python

Python

Python is a general purpose programming language created by Guido Van Rossum. Python is most praised for its elegant syntax and readable code, if you are just beginning your programming career python suits you best.

PHP

PHP

Fast, flexible and pragmatic, PHP powers everything from your blog to the most popular websites in the world.

Ruby

Ruby

Ruby is a language of careful balance. Its creator, Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto, blended parts of his favorite languages (Perl, Smalltalk, Eiffel, Ada, and Lisp) to form a new language that balanced functional programming with imperative programming.

Java

Java

Java is a programming language and computing platform first released by Sun Microsystems in 1995. There are lots of applications and websites that will not work unless you have Java installed, and more are created every day. Java is fast, secure, and reliable. From laptops to datacenters, game consoles to scientific supercomputers, cell phones to the Internet, Java is everywhere!

Golang

Golang

Go is expressive, concise, clean, and efficient. Its concurrency mechanisms make it easy to write programs that get the most out of multicore and networked machines, while its novel type system enables flexible and modular program construction. Go compiles quickly to machine code yet has the convenience of garbage collection and the power of run-time reflection. It's a fast, statically typed, compiled language that feels like a dynamically typed, interpreted language.

HTML5

HTML5

HTML5 is a core technology markup language of the Internet used for structuring and presenting content for the World Wide Web. As of October 2014 this is the final and complete fifth revision of the HTML standard of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The previous version, HTML 4, was standardised in 1997.

C#

C#

C# (pronounced "See Sharp") is a simple, modern, object-oriented, and type-safe programming language. C# has its roots in the C family of languages and will be immediately familiar to C, C++, Java, and JavaScript programmers.

Scala

Scala

Scala is an acronym for “Scalable Language”. This means that Scala grows with you. You can play with it by typing one-line expressions and observing the results. But you can also rely on it for large mission critical systems, as many companies, including Twitter, LinkedIn, or Intel do. To some, Scala feels like a scripting language. Its syntax is concise and low ceremony; its types get out of the way because the compiler can infer them.

Elixir

Elixir

Elixir leverages the Erlang VM, known for running low-latency, distributed and fault-tolerant systems, while also being successfully used in web development and the embedded software domain.

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