Reading and writing JSON

What the server sends you is text, not an object. You use JSON.parse to turn it into objects and arrays you can work with, and JSON.stringify to go the other way when you send data.

JSON's rules are stricter than JavaScript's: it only accepts double quotes, it doesn't allow a comma after the last item, and it doesn't allow comments. Most "Unexpected token" errors come from breaking one of these three rules.

If the text isn't valid, JSON.parse throws an error, so wrap it in try/catch whenever the text comes from an outside source.