From XML to JSON to CBOR

#1

Post by GarethX » Wed, Jul 30, 2025, 10:31 AM UTC

Re: From XML to JSON to CBOR

#2

Post by fjfaase » Wed, Jul 30, 2025, 11:31 AM UTC

This is a link to just one section of a larger book. The next section compare CBOR with a number of other binary storage format, such as protobuf.

Re: From XML to JSON to CBOR

#3

Post by brookst » Wed, Jul 30, 2025, 12:08 PM UTC

Odd that the XML and JSON sections show examples of the format, but CBOR doesn’t. I’m left with no idea what it looks like, other than “building on JSON’s key/value format”.

Re: From XML to JSON to CBOR

#4

Post by account-5 » Wed, Jul 30, 2025, 12:12 PM UTC

brookst wrote: post #3

Odd that the XML and JSON sections show examples of the format, but CBOR doesn’t. I’m left with no idea what it looks like, other than “building on JSON’s key/value format”.

I'm assuming, since it's a binary encoded, the textual output would not be something you'd like to look at.

Re: From XML to JSON to CBOR

#5

Post by zbendefy » Wed, Jul 30, 2025, 12:17 PM UTC

How different is CBOR compared to BSON? Both seem to be binary json-like representations.

Edit: BSON seems to contain more data types than JSON, and as such it is more complex, whereas CBOR doesn't add to JSON's existing structure.

Re: From XML to JSON to CBOR

#6

Post by sam_lowry_ » Wed, Jul 30, 2025, 12:19 PM UTC

account-5 wrote: post #4

brookst wrote: post #3

Odd that the XML and JSON sections show examples of the format, but CBOR doesn’t. I’m left with no idea what it looks like, other than “building on JSON’s key/value format”.

I'm assuming, since it's a binary encoded, the textual output would not be something you'd like to look at.

People look at TCP packets all the time.

Re: From XML to JSON to CBOR

#7

Post by account-5 » Wed, Jul 30, 2025, 12:23 PM UTC

sam_lowry_ wrote: post #6

account-5 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm assuming, since it's a binary encoded, the textual output would not be something you'd like to look at.

People look at TCP packets all the time.

In which format? As a list of 1s and 0s; in hex? TCP or IP if I just pasted the textual version of any binary data id captured without some form of conversion it's not good to look at. Especially if it's not accompanied by the encoding schema so you can actually make sense of it.

Re: From XML to JSON to CBOR

#8

Post by mrbluecoat » Wed, Jul 30, 2025, 12:25 PM UTC

Feels like a CBOR ad to me. I agree that most techs are familiar with XML and JSON, but calling CBOR a "pivotal data format" is a stretch compared to Protobuf, Parquet, Avro, Cap'n Proto, and many others: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_data-serializa...

Re: From XML to JSON to CBOR

#9

Post by brookst » Wed, Jul 30, 2025, 12:26 PM UTC

account-5 wrote: post #4

brookst wrote: post #3

Odd that the XML and JSON sections show examples of the format, but CBOR doesn’t. I’m left with no idea what it looks like, other than “building on JSON’s key/value format”.

I'm assuming, since it's a binary encoded, the textual output would not be something you'd like to look at.

Why? I’m comfortable reading 0x48 0x65 0x78 0x61 0x64 0x65 0x63 0x69 0x6D 0x61 0x6C

Re: From XML to JSON to CBOR

#10

Post by brookst » Wed, Jul 30, 2025, 12:28 PM UTC

account-5 wrote: post #7

sam_lowry_ wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People look at TCP packets all the time.

In which format? As a list of 1s and 0s; in hex? TCP or IP if I just pasted the textual version of any binary data id captured without some form of conversion it's not good to look at. Especially if it's not accompanied by the encoding schema so you can actually make sense of it.

The encoding schema are also present for XML and JSON, but not CBOR, so yes, that’s another gap if the book is intended for a technical audience.