.. _zend.json.introduction:

Introduction
============

``Zend\Json`` provides convenience methods for serializing native *PHP* to *JSON* and decoding *JSON* to native
*PHP*. For more information on *JSON*, `visit the JSON project site`_.

*JSON*, JavaScript Object Notation, can be used for data interchange between JavaScript and other languages. Since
*JSON* can be directly evaluated by JavaScript, it is a more efficient and lightweight format than *XML* for
exchanging data with JavaScript clients.

In addition, ``Zend\Json`` provides a useful way to convert any arbitrary *XML* formatted string into a *JSON*
formatted string. This built-in feature will enable *PHP* developers to transform the enterprise data encoded in
*XML* format into *JSON* format before sending it to browser-based Ajax client applications. It provides an easy
way to do dynamic data conversion on the server-side code thereby avoiding unnecessary *XML* parsing in the
browser-side applications. It offers a nice utility function that results in easier application-specific data
processing techniques.



.. _`visit the JSON project site`: http://www.json.org/