JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a commonly used semi-structured data type. With the self-describing schema structure, JSON can hold all data types, including multi-level nested data types, such as Array, Object, etc. JSON takes advantage of high flexibility and easy dynamic expansion compared with the structured data types that must strictly follow the fields in a tabular data structure.

As data volume increases rapidly in recent years, many platforms have started to use and get the most out of semi-structured data types (such as JSON). For example, the JSON data is shared by various platforms through open interfaces, and the public datasets and application logs are stored in JSON format.