# MultiJSON [![Build Status](https://secure.travis-ci.org/intridea/multi_json.png?branch=master)][travis] [![Dependency Status](https://gemnasium.com/intridea/multi_json.png?travis)][gemnasium]

[travis]: http://travis-ci.org/intridea/multi_json
[gemnasium]: https://gemnasium.com/intridea/multi_json

Lots of Ruby libraries parse JSON and everyone has their favorite JSON coder.
Instead of choosing a single JSON coder and forcing users of your library to be
stuck with it, you can use MultiJSON instead, which will simply choose the
fastest available JSON coder. Here's how to use it:

    require 'multi_json'

    MultiJson.load('{"abc":"def"}') #=> {"abc" => "def"}
    MultiJson.load('{"abc":"def"}', :symbolize_keys => true) #=> {:abc => "def"}
    MultiJson.dump({:abc => 'def'}) # convert Ruby back to JSON
    MultiJson.dump({:abc => 'def'}, :pretty => true) # encoded in a pretty form (if supported by the coder)

The `use` method, which sets the MultiJson adapter, takes either a symbol or a
class (to allow for custom JSON parsers) that responds to both `.load` and `.dump`
at the class level.

MultiJSON tries to have intelligent defaulting. That is, if you have any of the
supported engines already loaded, it will utilize them before attempting to
load any. When loading, libraries are ordered by speed. First Oj, then Yajl,
then the JSON gem, then JSON pure. If no other JSON library is available,
MultiJSON falls back to [OkJson][], a simple, vendorable JSON parser.

[okjson]: https://github.com/kr/okjson

## Supported JSON Engines

* [Oj](https://github.com/ohler55/oj) Optimized JSON by Peter Ohler
* [Yajl](https://github.com/brianmario/yajl-ruby) Yet Another JSON Library by Brian Lopez
* [JSON](https://github.com/flori/json) The default JSON gem with C-extensions (ships with Ruby 1.9)
* [JSON Pure](https://github.com/flori/json) A Ruby variant of the JSON gem
* [NSJSONSerialization](https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/Foundation/Reference/NSJSONSerialization_Class/Reference/Reference.html) Wrapper for Apple's NSJSONSerialization in the Cocoa Framework (MacRuby only)
* [OkJson][okjson] A simple, vendorable JSON parser

## Supported Ruby Versions
This library aims to support and is [tested against][travis] the following Ruby
implementations:

* Ruby 1.8.7
* Ruby 1.9.2
* Ruby 1.9.3
* [JRuby][]
* [Rubinius][]
* [MacRuby][] (not tested on Travis CI)

[jruby]: http://www.jruby.org/
[rubinius]: http://rubini.us/
[macruby]: http://www.macruby.org/

If something doesn't work on one of these interpreters, it should be considered
a bug.

This library may inadvertently work (or seem to work) on other Ruby
implementations, however support will only be provided for the versions listed
above.

If you would like this library to support another Ruby version, you may
volunteer to be a maintainer. Being a maintainer entails making sure all tests
run and pass on that implementation. When something breaks on your
implementation, you will be personally responsible for providing patches in a
timely fashion. If critical issues for a particular implementation exist at the
time of a major release, support for that Ruby version may be dropped.

## Copyright
Copyright (c) 2010 Michael Bleigh, Josh Kalderimis, Erik Michaels-Ober, and Intridea, Inc.
See [LICENSE][] for details.

[license]: https://github.com/intridea/multi_json/blob/master/LICENSE.md