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0 pointsq3k10mo ago0 comments

Have a read through RFC7159 or 8259 and despair.

> This specification allows implementations to set limits on the range and precision of numbers accepted

JSON is a terrible interoperability standard.

0 comments

matja10mo ago

So a JSON parser that cannot store a 2 is technically compliant? :(

reichstein10mo ago

JSON is a text format. A parser must recognize the text `2` as a valid production of the JSON number grammar.

Converting that text to _any_ kind of numerical value is outside the scope of the specification. (At least the JSON.org specification, the RFC tries to say more.)

As a textural format, when you use it for data interchange between different platforms, you should ensure that the endpoints agree on the _interpretation_, otherwise they won't see the same data.

Again outside of the scope of the JSON specification.

deepsun10mo ago

The more a format restricts, the more useful it is. E.g. if a format allows pretty much anything and it's up to parsers to accept or reject it, we may as well say "any text file" (or even "any data file") -- it would allow for anything.

Similarly to a "schema-less" DBMS -- you will still have a schema, it will just be in your application code, not enforced by the DBMS.

JSON is a nice balance between convenience and restrictions, but it's still a compromise.

tsimionescu10mo ago

A JSON parser has to check if a numeric value is actually numeric - the JSON {"a" : 123456789} is valid, but {"a" : 12345678f} is not. Per the RFC, a standards-compliant JSON parser can also refuse {"a": 123456789} if it considers the number is too large.

q3kOP10mo ago

Yep. Or one that parses it into a 7 :)

kevingadd10mo ago

I once debugged a production issue that boiled down to "A PCI compliance .dll was messing with floating point flags, causing the number 4 to unserialize as 12"

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chasd0010mo ago

> Or one that parses it into a 7 :)

if it's known and acceptable that LLMs can hallucinate arguments to an API then i don't see how this isn't perfectly acceptable behavior either.

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