Python 2.6 JSON decoding performance

Question

I\'m using the json module in Python 2.6 to load and decode JSON files. However I\'m currently getting slower than expected performance. I\'m using a test case

Answer 1

Even though _json is available, I've noticed json decoding is very slow on CPython 2.6.6. I haven't compared with other implementations, but I've switched to string manipulation when inside performance-critical loops.