I can independently confirm that people were using JSON before he named it JSON. I was dumping data in JSON in 2000 for dynamically displayed reports.
But then again I was already used to using Perl data structures as dumped by Data::Dumper for config, because I was taught a lot about Perl by a Lisp programmer who had used Lisp data structures for the same purpose since the 1980s. So using JSON didn't feel original or clever. It seemed like I was simply using a well-known technique in yet another dynamic language.
Then again our reaction to XML was the stupid thing other people were doing that you had to do to interact with the rest of the world. I got used to holding my tongue until I went to Google a decade later and found that my attitude was common wisdom there...
But then again I was already used to using Perl data structures as dumped by Data::Dumper for config, because I was taught a lot about Perl by a Lisp programmer who had used Lisp data structures for the same purpose since the 1980s. So using JSON didn't feel original or clever. It seemed like I was simply using a well-known technique in yet another dynamic language.
Then again our reaction to XML was the stupid thing other people were doing that you had to do to interact with the rest of the world. I got used to holding my tongue until I went to Google a decade later and found that my attitude was common wisdom there...