Introduction to JSON and XML

If you have experience in software engineering, you’ve likely come across JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) and Extensible Markup Language (XML). Both data formats have gained widespread adoption throughout various technologies, including markup languages like HTML, document-oriented databases such as MongoDB, and data exchange formats for APIs like JSON-RPCRemote process communication. Even renowned relational database management systems have inevitably incorporated JSON and XML into their ecosystem. For example, MySQL started supporting JSON through a dedicated data type from version 5.7, which is a significant development as having a dedicated data type for JSON means that it comes with native support instead of being stored as a BLOB. With native support, the database system also provides various functions to inspect the stored JSON document, e.g., JSON_EXTRACT, to access JSON’s attributes. Before exploring these functions, however, we need to delve into the intricacies of these two data formats.