Why is JSON replacing XML as a data format? [closed]

Answer 1

Replace XML? Which XML?

There is "XML - the kind of data structuring" and "XML - the the textual representation of this structuring".

So, while the textual representation of XML can be replaced by many means (JSON, YAML, ...), it would not replace the structural properties (there's a tree, elements with attributes, sub-elements and text nodes).

There are formats which store and/or process XML-structured data while neglecting the textual form. Examples:

1. DOM - stores an object tree in memory in an transformation-efficient form.
2. EXI - future format to store/transmit XML data in binary-optimized form.

So, textual representation of XML can be "replaced" by transforming the standard XML notation to something else and back again. (XML to JSON, and back to XML)

But, the structural properties and all technologies based on them, can not be "replaced", because this would just break all standards. So no one is doing this. There are just alternative textual representations being read to in-memory DOM or other formats, achieving a higher level of abstraction thus neglecting the underlying textual form.