JavaScript Object Notation – or JSON as it more commonly known – has been around for close to 20 years now. However, it debuted in SQL Server with the 2016 release.
JSON is a fabulous data interchange language, however, unfortunately for SQL Server, XML – which is another data interchange format – suffered from a bad reputation of being tricky to use and non-intuitive. Fortunately, JSON is a lot more user friendly than XML in SQL Server and is extremely useful for things such as
- Importing configuration information.
- Exporting data
- Schema flexibility
Although, it might surprise you to know that there is no JSON data type in SQL Server – however, the JSON implementation is very user friendly and can benefit the DBA and developer in many different ways. A familiarity with JSON may also server as good introduction to other systems – such as CosmosDB – that use this format extensively.
Tune into this session and see some of the ways that JSON could help you out as a SQL Server professional.