Widely used by apps to serialise their data into files, it’s a popular alternative to XML. You may also come across variants for streaming as JSON Lines, or worse still JSONised XML.
XML
All about plain text, rich text, RTFD, .doc, .docx, HTML, webarchive, WordML, ODT and Pages formats, and how much space they take.
Hundreds of app preferences are hidden away in ~/Library/Preferences and elsewhere. What do they contain, how do they work, and how can they crash an app before it’s even running fully?
From GML in 1969 came SGML, then in 1998 XML 1.0 was released. This was used to set out property lists in Mac OS X, and more recently have been stored in binary format.
Nearly 20 years old now, the Dictionary app seems to be slowly slipping into oblivion. It still provides access to reputable sources and Wikipedia.
Introduction to property lists, used in many places as well as the mainstay of preference files. How to change them safely without risk of conflicts.
Why changing a property list in Preferences may not change that setting, and how you may not be able to throw the file away.
What’s the difference between plain text, marked-up plain text, and rich text? How can I tell them apart, and how do they work?
Storage has to be reliable, efficient and resilient. However, efficiency and resilience oppose one another. What’s the best solution? New file formats, CRC in the file system, or what?
They’re XML, structured into dictionaries and arrays containing key-value pairs. Preference plists are managed, and need special treatment.
The Eclectic Light Company 