diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'yajl/README')
-rw-r--r-- | yajl/README | 74 |
1 files changed, 74 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/yajl/README b/yajl/README new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ad61759 --- /dev/null +++ b/yajl/README @@ -0,0 +1,74 @@ +********************************************************************** + This is YAJL 2. For the legacy version of YAJL see + https://github.com/lloyd/yajl/tree/1.x +********************************************************************** + +Welcome to Yet Another JSON Library (YAJL) + +## Why does the world need another C library for parsing JSON? + +Good question. In a review of current C JSON parsing libraries I was +unable to find one that satisfies my requirements. Those are, +0. written in C +1. portable +2. robust -- as close to "crash proof" as possible +3. data representation independent +4. fast +5. generates verbose, useful error messages including context of where + the error occurs in the input text. +6. can parse JSON data off a stream, incrementally +7. simple to use +8. tiny + +Numbers 3, 5, 6, and 7 were particularly hard to find, and were what +caused me to ultimately create YAJL. This document is a tour of some +of the more important aspects of YAJL. + +## YAJL is Free. + +Permissive licensing means you can use it in open source and +commercial products alike without any fees. My request beyond the +licensing is that if you find bugs drop me a email, or better yet, +fork and fix. + +Porting YAJL should be trivial, the implementation is ANSI C. If you +port to new systems I'd love to hear of it and integrate your patches. + +## YAJL is data representation independent. + +BYODR! Many JSON libraries impose a structure based data representation +on you. This is a benefit in some cases and a drawback in others. +YAJL uses callbacks to remain agnostic of the in-memory representation. +So if you wish to build up an in-memory representation, you may do so +using YAJL, but you must bring the code that defines and populates the +in memory structure. + +This also means that YAJL can be used by other (higher level) JSON +libraries if so desired. + +## YAJL supports stream parsing + +This means you do not need to hold the whole JSON representation in +textual form in memory. This makes YAJL ideal for filtering projects, +where you're converting YAJL from one form to another (i.e. XML). The +included JSON pretty printer is an example of such a filter program. + +## YAJL is fast + +Minimal memory copying is performed. YAJL, when possible, returns +pointers into the client provided text (i.e. for strings that have no +embedded escape chars, hopefully the common case). I've put a lot of +effort into profiling and tuning performance, but I have ignored a +couple possible performance improvements to keep the interface clean, +small, and flexible. My hope is that YAJL will perform comparably to +the fastest JSON parser out there. + +YAJL should impose both minimal CPU and memory requirements on your +application. + +## YAJL is tiny. + +Fat free. No whip. + +enjoy, +Lloyd - July, 2007 |