>>JSON has its place in data processing and interchange. XML is more people-friendly.
>You do realize that you have to have a schema for that to work right?

Only if you use standard XML tools and the obtuse syntax they impose upon people. If you keep it streamlined and write your own then it's no issue.

Visual FreePro and Visual FreePro, Jr., for example, define BXML, which exactly parallels the simple core XML syntax, with the addition that a length can be specified for attributes with a colon and the length and an equal sign with or without quotes afterward. If the length definition is not present it's basically identical to existing XML syntax.

<bxml>
  <data name:4=Rick/>
</bxml>

It allows you to specify "binary" data (or fixed length data) within an XML tag for rapid processing (BXML = binary XML).

A standard SQL-like query language works through the implied data hierarchies which exist within bxml which, when applied to container definitions, are of the form: table + struct, data. It even allows immediate sub-storage of ad hoc data relative to each element.

See: BXML on Visual FreePro's wiki

The syntax there is actually stale as I no longer require the [?bxml version?] line, and have made it a single version so it works with [bxml] alone (using < and > instead of [ and ]).