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  5. JSON vs Swift

JSON vs Swift

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Swift
Swift
Stacks21.9K
Followers13.6K
Votes1.3K
JSON
JSON
Stacks2.0K
Followers1.6K
Votes9

JSON vs Swift: What are the differences?

Introduction

Here, we will discuss the key differences between JSON and Swift. JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight data interchange format, while Swift is a programming language developed by Apple for the iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS platforms.

  1. Syntax: JSON uses a simple and human-readable syntax that resembles JavaScript object literals. It is composed of key-value pairs wrapped in curly braces {} and data types such as numbers, strings, booleans, arrays, and null. On the other hand, Swift has its own syntax for defining variables, structs, classes, functions, and control flow. It follows a strict and expressive syntax that is specific to the Swift programming language.

  2. Data Types: JSON supports a limited set of data types including numbers, booleans, strings, null, arrays, and objects. It doesn't have built-in support for more complex types like dates and sets. Swift, being a full-fledged programming language, supports a wide range of data types including integers, doubles, booleans, strings, arrays, dictionaries, tuples, sets, and more. It also provides the flexibility to define and use custom data types.

  3. Access and Manipulation: JSON is primarily used for data serialization and transmission and doesn't provide built-in methods for directly accessing or manipulating the data. It requires external libraries or parsers to parse JSON data and extract values. On the other hand, Swift provides a rich set of APIs and methods for easily accessing, manipulating, and transforming data. It offers features like subscripting, key paths, map, filter, and reduce functions, making it convenient to work with data in a structured and type-safe manner.

  4. Typing: JSON is dynamically typed, meaning the data types are determined at runtime. It doesn't enforce strict type checking, allowing for flexibility but potentially leading to type-related issues if not handled carefully. Swift, on the other hand, is statically typed, enforcing type checking at compile-time. This helps catch errors early, improves code reliability, and enables better autocompletion and code suggestions in development environments.

  5. Serialization and Deserialization: JSON is primarily used for serialization and deserialization of data, allowing objects or data structures to be encoded into a JSON string or decoded from a JSON string back into their original form. Swift provides built-in support for both manual and automatic serialization and deserialization of data with the help of Codable protocols. Codable allows developers to define a type's structure and its encoding and decoding requirements in a simple manner, reducing the boilerplate code needed for data conversion.

  6. Platform-specific Features: JSON is a platform-neutral data format and can be used with any programming language or platform that supports its syntax and data types. Swift, being an Apple-developed language, provides native support for iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS development. It offers platform-specific features and frameworks like SwiftUI, UIKit, Core Data, Core Image, and more, enabling developers to build native applications for Apple devices.

In summary, JSON is a lightweight data interchange format with a simple syntax, limited data types, and no built-in access or manipulation methods. On the other hand, Swift is a programming language that supports a wide range of data types, provides rich APIs for data access and manipulation, enforces strict typing, offers serialization and deserialization capabilities, and comes with platform-specific features for Apple development.

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Advice on Swift, 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

Detailed Comparison

Swift
Swift
JSON
JSON

Writing code is interactive and fun, the syntax is concise yet expressive, and apps run lightning-fast. Swift is ready for your next iOS and OS X project — or for addition into your current app — because Swift code works side-by-side with Objective-C.

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
21.9K
Stacks
2.0K
Followers
13.6K
Followers
1.6K
Votes
1.3K
Votes
9
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 259
    Ios
  • 180
    Elegant
  • 126
    Not Objective-C
  • 107
    Backed by apple
  • 93
    Type inference
Cons
  • 6
    Must own a mac
  • 2
    Memory leaks are not uncommon
  • 1
    Its classes compile to roughly 300 lines of assembly
  • 1
    Very irritatingly picky about things that’s
  • 1
    Complicated process for exporting modules
Pros
  • 5
    Simple
  • 4
    Widely supported
Integrations
Cocoa Touch (iOS)
Cocoa Touch (iOS)
MongoDB
MongoDB
PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL
MySQL
MySQL
JavaScript
JavaScript
JSON Server
JSON Server
JSONlite
JSONlite

What are some alternatives to Swift, 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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