This challenge is to build your own JSON parser.
Building a JSON parser is an easy way to learn about parsing techniques which are useful for everything from parsing simple data formats through to building a fully featured compiler for a programming language.
Parsing is often broken up into two stages: lexical analysis and syntactic analysis. Lexical analysis is the process of dividing a sequence of characters into meaningful chunks, called tokens. Syntactic analysis (which is also sometimes referred to as parsing) is the process of analysing the list of tokens to match it to a formal grammar.
You can read far more about building lexers, parses and compilers in what is regarded as the definitive book on compilers: Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools - widely known as the “Dragon Book” (because there’s an illustration of a dragon on the cover).
JSON (which stands for JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight data-interchange format, which is widely used for transmitting data over the Internet. It is formally defined by the IETF here: https://tools.ietf.org/html/std90 or there’s a simpler graphical representation here: https://www.json.org/json-en.html
$ python3 parser.pyPull requests are welcome. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.
Please make sure to update tests as appropriate.