Comparison

Nano Markup vs JSON.

JSON is the universal interchange format. Nano Markup is a plain-text authoring format for the same broad shapes: strings, mappings, and sequences, with less punctuation and support for comments.

At a glance

Punctuation-light authoring, JSON-friendly data

Human editingNano Markup removes braces, commas, most quotes, and escape-heavy multiline text. JSON is stricter and more punctuation-heavy.

InterchangeJSON is ideal for APIs and protocols. Nano Markup is best as a source file that applications decode into their own values.

CommentsNano Markup supports comments. Standard JSON does not.

Scalar typesNano Markup scalars are strings. JSON has strings, numbers, booleans, and null.

Example

A catalog entry in both formats

Nano Markup

..
    id shirt-001
    title Linen shirt
    tags:
        summer
        linen
    description|
        Lightweight shirt for warm weather.
        Machine washable.

JSON

{
  "id": "shirt-001",
  "title": "Linen shirt",
  "tags": ["summer", "linen"],
  "description": "Lightweight shirt for warm weather.\nMachine washable."
}

Practical path

Author in Nano Markup, exchange as JSON

The example repository includes paired Nano Markup and JSON files so implementers can compare parsed data trees and verify behavior.

Browse examples

You can also compare Nano Markup with YAML or TOML.