What is JSON handling in Python?
Why Interviewers Ask This
Mid-level Python roles require deep understanding of this topic. Interviewers ask this to separate candidates who truly understand the mechanics from those who only know surface-level concepts.
Answer
Python's built-in json module handles JSON serialization and deserialization. Serialize Python object to JSON string: json.dumps(data, indent=2, sort_keys=True). Deserialize JSON string to Python object: json.loads(json_string). JSON types map to Python: object → dict, array → list, string → str, number → int/float, true/false → True/False, null → None. File I/O: json.dump(data, file_obj) and json.load(file_obj). Custom encoding: subclass json.JSONEncoder and override default() — handle types like datetime, UUID, Decimal. Custom decoding: use the object_hook parameter. For high-performance JSON, consider ujson, orjson, or msgpack. The dataclasses.asdict() function converts dataclasses to dicts before JSON serialization.
Pro Tip
This topic has Python-specific nuances that differ from general programming. Highlighting those nuances in your answer shows expertise rather than generic knowledge.