I have knowledge of Java, and I have made many programs with this language. But now, I want to learn how to work with JSON files. I use Maven and have heard that there are many libraries for JSON. What is the best and easiest one?

Hi Devs, I'm relatively new to the world of backend development, and I'm currently working on a Java project using the Spring Boot framework. My application involves a lot of JSON data manipulation. Here's what I'm up to:

I fetch data from some APIs, manipulate it according to my application's needs, and provide that data through controllers. JSON plays a central role in this process.

As a beginner in this field, I'm looking for advice from experienced developers. Which JSON library have you found to offer the best developer experience when working in Java, especially within a Spring Boot project?

In my case, what factors should I prioritize for a smooth development experience considering the heavy JSON manipulation I'm doing?

Minimal, standard-first JSON writer and parser. One single Java file, 1k LoC, no dependencies.

Background

I often write small Java tools (CLI, Gradle plugins, scripts) that need to read/write JSON. I really don't want to use JSON libraries that larger than my codebase, so I wrote json4j.

Usage

You can use as dependency:

implementation("io.github.danielliu1123:json4j:+")

or use as source code, just copy Json.java into your codebase:

mkdir -p json && curl -L -o json/Json.java https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DanielLiu1123/json4j/refs/heads/main/json4j/src/main/java/json/Json.java

There are only two APIs:

record Point(int x, int y) {}
    
// 1) Write JSON
Point point = new Point(1, 2);
String json = Json.stringify(point);
// -> {"x":1,"y":2}
    
// 2) Read JSON
    
// 2.1) Simple type
String json = "{\"x\":1,\"y\":2}";
Point point = Json.parse(jsonString, Point.class);
// -> Point{x=1, y=2}
    
// 2.2) Generic type
String json = "[{\"x\":1,\"y\":2},{\"x\":3,\"y\":4}]";
List<Point> points = Json.parse(jsonString, new Json.Type<List<Point>>() {});
// -> [Point{x=1, y=2}, Point{x=3, y=4}]

That's all!

Link

Repo: https://github.com/DanielLiu1123/json4j