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139 points robin_reala | 3 comments | 20 Aug 16 18:08 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source

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greenyoda ◴[20 Aug 16 18:17 UTC] No.12327716[source]▶

I never understood why the double quotes around property names are mandatory. For example, in JavaScript, I can write

    { foo: 1, bar: 2 }

but JSON syntax insists on

    { "foo": 1, "bar": 2 }

This makes JSON less easily readable by humans, and harder to write or edit by hand.

Anyone know why JSON was designed this way?

1. xrstf ◴[20 Aug 16 18:49 UTC] No.12327836[source]▶

Because using certain keys could break your JavaScript (and JSON was designed to be a subset), like

    { delete: "me" }

If you don't want to keep a list of known keywords around, just insisting on quotes is the easier way.

[EDIT: See also this YouTube video, where Douglas Crockford explains it himself: https://youtu.be/-C-JoyNuQJs?t=5m]

replies(1): >>12328698 #

2. yepperino ◴[20 Aug 16 23:14 UTC] No.12328698[source]▶

Unquoted keywords are valid ES5.1 object properties.

    alert(JSON.stringify({delete: "me", for: 1, var: 2}));

results in:

    {"delete":"me","for":1,"var":2}

The only browser it does not work in is IE8 and earlier.

replies(1): >>12365002 #

3. lucian1900 ◴[26 Aug 16 08:41 UTC] No.12365002[source]▶

JSON significantly predates ES 5.1

Fixing JSON