The document discusses the origins and development of JSON (JavaScript Object Notation). It describes how Douglas Crockford discovered JSON in 2001 and published the first JSON specification in 2002. It outlines some of the key events in the early adoption of JSON, including its use for browser/server communication and as an alternative to XML.

1. The JSON Saga Douglas Crockford Yahoo! Inc.

2. I am a heretic. You have been warned.

4. 2001

5. State Software 2002

15. JSML JavaScript Message Language

16. JSON JavaScript Object Notation

20. And that’s all I did. A message format in a bottle.

21. Contributors

29. Ajax! 2005

32. Minimalism It can fit on the back of a business card.

33. Influences

34. Lisp S-expressions 1958

35. Rebol

36. JavaScript Python NewtonScript

37. NeXT OpenStep Property Lists 1993

38. XML The High Priced Spread

39. HTML Always bet on angle brackets.

40. Ask not if it is good enough. Ask if it can be popular enough.

41. Maybe only something this simple could work. John Seely Brown, April 2002

42. Maybe only something this complicated could work. 2002

43. XMLsucks.org Why XML is technologically terrible, but you have to use it anyway

44. XML is the standard so shut up. SHUT UP!

46. Disruption Threats

47. It’s not even XML! Who did this travesty? Let’s find a tree and string them up. Now. Dave Winer, 2006-12-20

48. any damn fool could produce a better data format than XML James Clark, 2007-04-06

49. Use the right tool for the right job. When your only tool is a wrench, every problem looks like a nail.

50. Where did the idea come from that data should be represented by a document format?

56. License The Software shall be used for Good, not Evil.

57. I give permission to IBM, its customers, partners, and minions, to use JSLint for evil. Thanks very much, Douglas! Staff Attorney, IP Law IBM Corporation

58. The JSON Logo

59. The Impossible Torus

60. Ambihelical Hexnut

65. www.JSON.org