Differences between using XML or JSON

Question

I want to understand why use XML or JSON, and why have little XML content on the internet? XML is already "dead"?

Answer 1

XML is far from having died, still has an absurdity of things in XML, including there its variations as XAML just to cite one example (there are several others with similar purpose), many configuration files use. XML was created to be extensible and not to be used purely because it is too simple. XML has a number of features that JSON does not have, for example you type the data with schema and use of namespace, and make it canonical.

JSON is much simpler and was created precisely for this, when you don’t need everything XML needs. JSON is used by most Apis because it is lighter than XML to carry and even to build and decode, the gain can impact in large volumes.

In general if it’s to use something simple then one could use something different like YAML And something like that, but JSON took it and people don’t often wonder why they’re using it, almost everyone thinks if they’re using it, they should use it, too. Of course, if you are going to exchange data with third parties then adopting the standard is important. YAML has its disadvantages there, so another format, perhaps proprietary, is more interesting for your case.

XML is used for things that need more reliability, security and stability, one of the examples we use the most is in tax matters in Brazil (Nfe and company) and in many platforms EDI traditional.

The fact that you see little content is just a bias of your own, that’s how the fake news, the person considers that his perception is more important than the fact.

You can see more in Why and when to use XML instead of JSON?.

JSON	XML
Simple	Complex and powerful
Easy to parse	Difficult
Quick to parse	Slow
Map	Tree
Data without semantics	Semantic information
Unceremonious	Greater control
Schemaless (implicitude)	Schema (explicitude)
Data-only	Metadata
Free raw use	Sophisticated mechanism
Nameless	Namespace
Data transfer format	Markup language
Born from use with Javascript	Derivative of SGML
Easy to learn	Difficult
Free data	Document
"Unreliable"	"Reliable"
Readable	"Illegible"
Basic data	Rich data
Allows array	Simulate array
No Comments	Commentary
UTF-8 standard	Configurable
Little space	Wastage
Serialization	Configuration/Validation

Of course some of these things are optional or can be solved with some addendum that the technology allows and that someone did, for example have a schema in JSON. Not everything that seems is necessarily bad. For example, if you compress the data the XML is the same size as the compressed JSON, but of course JSON takes less time to compress.

XML has lost market, but that’s dying?