Common Data Formats in Programming



Common Elements in a Data Format



• Format syntax
• Objects Representation
• Key / Value notation
◇ Values can be objects, lists, strings, numbers, boolean
• Arrays or List notation

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JSON



• JSON stands for JavaScript Object Notation
• A human readable data structure that application use to store, transfer and read read
• A data-interchange text format
• Notated with { } for objects, [ ] for arrays
• Key / Value representation “key”: value
• Whitespace not significant

JSON Object



• Data surrounded by { }
• An object can contain other objects or data entries
• Key / Value set separated by comma
• No comma at the end !

{
    "ietf-interfaces:interface": {
        "name": "GigabitEthernet2",
        "description": "Wide Area Network",
        "enabled": true,
        "ietf-ip:ipv4": {
            "address": [
                {
                    "ip": "172.16.0.2",
                    "netmask": "255.255.255.0"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}


JSON List



• List of data
• Can be composed of JSON objects
• Notated with brackets
• Comma separated

{
  "addresses": [
    {
      "ip": "172.16.0.2",
      "netmask": "255.255.255.0"
    },
    {
      "ip": "172.16.0.3",
      "netmask": "255.255.255.0"
    },
    {
      "ip": "172.16.0.4",
      "netmask": "255.255.255.0"
    }
  ]
}


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

XML



• XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language
• A human readable data structure that applictions use to store, transfer and read data
• Designed for Internet
• Schema or namspace defines data model

XML Object



• A related set of data surrounded by <tags></tags>
• An object can contain other object or data entries
• <key>value</key> contained within the object tags
• Whitespace not significant

<!-- XML Object -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<interface xmlns="ietf-interfaces">
  <name>GigabitEthernet2</name>
  <description>Wide Area Network</description>
  <enabled>true</enabled>
  <ipv4>
    <address>
      <ip>172.16.0.2</ip>
      <netmask>255.255.255.0</netmask>
    </address>
  </ipv4>
</interface>


XML List



• List of data
◇ Can be composed of XML objects
• Repeated instance of <tags></tags> for each element

<!-- XML List -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<addresses>
  <ip>172.16.0.2</ip>
  <netmask>255.255.255.0</netmask>
</addresses>
<addresses>
  <ip>172.16.0.3</ip>
  <netmask>255.255.255.0</netmask>
</addresses>
<addresses>
  <ip>172.16.0.4</ip>
  <netmask>255.255.255.0</netmask>
</addresses>


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

YAML



• YAML Ain't Markup Language
• A human readable data structure that applications use to store, transfer and read data
• Minimalist format commonly used for configuration files
• Whitespace indentation defines structure
◇ No commas
• Key / Value representation
◇ key: value

YAML Object



• Related set of data at the common identation level under name
• An object can contain other objects or data entries
• key: value pairs left aligned

---
ietf-interfaces:interface:
  name: GigabitEthernet2
  description: Wide Area Network
  enabled: true
  ietf-ip:ipv4:
    address:
    - ip: 172.16.0.2
      netmask: 255.255.255.0


YAML List



• List of data
• Can be composed of YAML objects
• Uses “-” character to indicate a list element

---
addresses:
- ip: 172.16.0.2
  netmask: 255.255.255.0
- ip: 172.16.0.3
  netmask: 255.255.255.0
- ip: 172.16.0.4
  netmask: 255.255.255.0


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Review



• Importance of the Audience
• Common data formats in programming
◇ XML
◇ JSON
◇ YAML
• Data formats are mostly interchangable

Index