Reading JSON

JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is a common format used for transferring data over the internet. Contrary to the name, it does not require JavaScript to read or create. The Python standard library ships with the json library that will encode and decode from JSON:

>>> import json
>>> encoded = json.dumps(people)
>>> encoded
'{"first": ["Paul", "John", "Richard", "George"], "last": ["McCartney", "Lennon", "Starkey", "Harrison"], "birth": [1942, 1940, 1940, 1943]}'
>>> json.loads(encoded)
{'first': ['Paull', 'John', 'Richard', 'George'], 'last': ['McCartney', 'Lennon', 'Starkey', 'Harrison'], 'birth': [1942, 1940, 1940, 1943]}

How to do it...

1. Read the data using the read_json function. If...