javascript objects vs arrays vs JSON

Question

Despite much googling and hair-pulling, I can't for the life of me articulate the difference between json, objects, and arrays (in javascript). Below is how I've been using 2-dimensional data containers (afraid to use the words "array," "object," or "json" here). Please tell me what these two examples are?

//first example: [     {"record_id":1,"name":"Frank"},     {"record_id":2,"name":"Sally"} ]  //second example: { "countries":      [     {"id":1,"name":"Canada"},     {"id":2,"name":"Mexico"}     ], "states":     [     "id":1,"name":"Maine"},     {"id":2,"name":"Alaska"}     ] } 

Answer 1

JSON is a representation of the data structure, it's not an object or an array.

[1,2,3] 

is an array.

{"foo":"bar"} 

is an object.

In your example,

[   {"record_id":1,"name":"Frank"},   {"record_id":2,"name":"Sally"} ] 

Is an array of objects.

{   "countries":      [       {"id":1,"name":"Canada"},       {"id":2,"name":"Mexico"}     ],   "states":     [       {"id":1,"name":"Maine"},       {"id":2,"name":"Alaska"}     ] } 

Is an object containing other arrays and objects inside of it.