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For one, JSON didn't exist 15 years ago.

For another, JSON didn't have validation or schemas 5 years ago.

Even there, the schemas and validation are very lightweight compared to what XML can do.

As I usually say, JSON is for relatively free-form, dynamically typed languages, but if one side is uses a statically typed language, XML is probably the better choice.

Hmm... I always tend to use XML for B2B communication or Mine-to-Theirs type RPCs. I use JSON primarily for Client-to-Server communication internally with own applications or for public APIs.

JSON was defined in April 2001, basically a subset of JavaScript specs from 1999.

So, JSON did exist 15 years ago, but not 16 years ago, although you have to go back 20 years if you want your statement to not just be about the name.

And yet ... how many of the decisions to use XML go back those 15 years? Hardly any.

JSON may have been created 15 years ago but it wasn't well known or commonly used for a number of years. Yahoo! only started using it in 2005 and Google in 2006. XML had been around and in use for years prior to that and even today has a much richer toolchain.

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