Which data exchange format is commonly used for APIs and lightweight data interchange?

Which data exchange format is commonly used for APIs and lightweight data interchange?

• A. XML
• B. CSV
• C. JSON
• D. YAML

Answer: (C)

JSON is designed for lightweight data interchange, making it the go-to format for modern APIs. It represents data as objects and arrays in a compact text form that can be easily parsed into native data structures in almost every programming language. This simplicity, speed, and broad tool support make JSON ideal for exchanging data between client and server in RESTful APIs, mobile apps, and microservices. In contrast, XML is more verbose with its tags and namespaces, CSV handles only flat tabular data without hierarchy, and YAML, while human-friendly, can be more error-prone due to indentation and parsing variations, which makes JSON a more reliable default choice for API payloads.

JSON is designed for lightweight data interchange, making it the go-to format for modern APIs. It represents data as objects and arrays in a compact text form that can be easily parsed into native data structures in almost every programming language. This simplicity, speed, and broad tool support make JSON ideal for exchanging data between client and server in RESTful APIs, mobile apps, and microservices. In contrast, XML is more verbose with its tags and namespaces, CSV handles only flat tabular data without hierarchy, and YAML, while human-friendly, can be more error-prone due to indentation and parsing variations, which makes JSON a more reliable default choice for API payloads.