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JSON vs MessagePack: What are the differences?
Introduction
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) and MessagePack are both data interchange formats that are used to serialize and deserialize data. They provide a standardized way of representing data structures in a platform-independent way. While both formats serve the same purpose, there are several key differences between them.
Serialization Format: JSON is a text-based format, whereas MessagePack is binary-based. JSON uses human-readable text to represent data, which makes it easier for humans to read and write. On the other hand, MessagePack uses binary encoding, which results in more compact data representation and faster serialization and deserialization.
Data Compactness: MessagePack is more compact than JSON, which means that it requires less storage space and results in smaller network payloads. MessagePack achieves this compactness by using binary encoding and omitting unnecessary information, such as field names, which are implied by the data structure.
Data Type Support: JSON supports a limited set of data types, including strings, numbers, booleans, arrays, and objects. MessagePack, on the other hand, supports a wider range of data types, such as integers of different sizes, floating-point numbers, booleans, strings, arrays, maps, and binary data. This increased data type support allows MessagePack to represent complex data structures more accurately.
Language Support: JSON is widely supported in programming languages and has native support in JavaScript. It is also supported in other languages through libraries or APIs. MessagePack also provides support for various programming languages, but the range of libraries and APIs available may be more limited compared to JSON.
Error Handling: JSON includes built-in support for error handling, with well-defined error messages and a clear structure for representing error information. MessagePack, on the other hand, does not have built-in error handling mechanisms. It is up to the application to define how errors are handled when using MessagePack.
Compatibility: JSON is widely used and supported by web browsers, making it an ideal choice for web-based applications. MessagePack, while not as widely supported as JSON, offers better performance in terms of serialization and deserialization speed and data compactness. Applications that require high performance and low data size may choose to use MessagePack over JSON.
In summary, JSON and MessagePack are both data interchange formats, but they differ in terms of serialization format, data compactness, data type support, language support, error handling, and compatibility. MessagePack offers more compact data representation, greater data type support, and better performance, but it may have limited language support compared to JSON.
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?
Python is very flexible and definitely up the job (although, in reality, any language will be able to cope with this task!). Python has some good libraries built in, and also some third party libraries that will help here. 1. Convert CSV -> JSON 2. Validate against a schema 3. Deploy to AWS
- The builtins include json and csv libraries, and, depending on the complexity of the csv file, it is fairly simple to convert:
import csv
import json
with open("your_input.csv", "r") as f:
csv_as_dict = list(csv.DictReader(f))[0]
with open("your_output.json", "w") as f:
json.dump(csv_as_dict, f)
The validation part is handled nicely by this library: https://pypi.org/project/jsonschema/ It allows you to create a schema and check whether what you have created works for what you want to do. It is based on the json schema standard, allowing annotation and validation of any json
It as an AWS library to automate the upload - or in fact do pretty much anything with AWS - from within your codebase: https://aws.amazon.com/sdk-for-python/ This will handle authentication to AWS and uploading / deploying the file to wherever it needs to go.
A lot depends on the last two pieces, but the converting itself is really pretty neat.
I would use Go. Since CSV files are flat (no hierarchy), you could use the encoding/csv package to read each row, and write out the values as JSON. See https://medium.com/@ankurraina/reading-a-simple-csv-in-go-36d7a269cecd. You just have to figure out in advance what the key is for each row.
This should be pretty doable in any language. Go with whatever you're most familiar with.
That being said, there's a case to be made for using Node.js since it's trivial to convert an object to JSON and vice versa.
Pros of JSON
- Simple5
- Widely supported4
Pros of MessagePack
- Lightweight1
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