API - XML or JSON output ?

6 points by iamyoohoo ↗ HN
We're considering building an API to our application. To all those that have created one, which output do most of your developer users use - XML or JSON ? Which one should we concentrate on first?

5 comments

[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 23.8 ms ] thread
I also agree about JSON. JSON is quicker to serialize to and from than XML, and it also uses less bandwidth.

Realistically though, the serialization should be a simple layer on the top of your API, and there isn't anything that should prevent you from doing both quickly.

JSON. Its serializable and has cross-browser support for in-built parsing. Moreover JSON data packets are light-weight as compared to XML, which means you'll also save on bandwidth and the data interchange will be quicker.
I prefer to use JSON but your API should provide multiple appropriate formats. What's the actual data?