Working with JSON data format
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight data interchange format that's easy for humans to read and write, and easy for machines to parse and generate. Python's json module provides methods for encoding and decoding JSON data. json.dump() and json.dumps() serialize Python objects to JSON format (to file or string respectively). json.load() and json.loads() deserialize JSON data to Python objects (from file or string respectively). Python objects are converted to JSON equivalents: dict to object, list to array, str to string, int/float to number, True to true, False to false, None to null. Custom serialization can be achieved with the default parameter, and custom deserialization with object_hook. JSON is widely used for web APIs, configuration files, and data storage. Understanding JSON handling is crucial for web development, API interactions, and any application that needs to exchange structured data with other systems or programming languages.