[Boston.pm] perl data to/from JSON?

This is a work-related issue, so certain decisions are out of my control.
Also, I know only rudimentary python, and I know absolutely nothing about
JSON, so, this whole thing may be complete garbage for reasons I'm unaware
of. That said:

We have a number of perl and python scripts and we are looking to share
data between them. It was decided that we use a JSON file format to store
data and then have all the scripts read/write this format so it wouldn't
matter if the script was python or perl.

basically I want to do this:

my $my_complex_data = [ {key1=>data1,key2=>data2}, [ {}, {key=>[] } ]];
use Storable qw(nstore dclone retrieve);
nstore ($my_complex_data, 'filename');
my $revived = retrieve('filename');

But have the intermediate file format be JSON instead of Storable's format.

We also have to go through a process to get executable modules installed,
so if it can be pure perl, I can just copy the file to a local directory,
check it into the project, and use it without delay.
I can get executables installed, but they have to be approved through a
process, and then someone has to make sure they're installed on every
machine everywhere, including all teh machines on LSF. so executables are
possible, but likely a bit more painful.

I looked for JSON on CPAN and found... hundreds of matches???

It looks like JSON::PP is pure perl and does what I want.
https://metacpan.org/pod/JSON::PP
however, it says:
"JSON::PP is a pure perl JSON decoder/encoder, and (almost) compatible to
much faster JSON::XS"

How compatible is "almost" compatible?

I'm not actually worried about being compatible with JSON::XS. I'm worried
about being compatible with whatever JSON file some python script ends up
generating, or generating a JSON file that a python script may have to
read.


JSON::XS https://metacpan.org/pod/JSON::XS says:
"This module converts Perl data structures to JSON and vice versa. Its
primary goal is to be correct"

How "incorrect" might JSON::PP be?

JSON::PP says it is not "java script friendly" and that "If you need
JavaScript-friendly RFC7159-compliant pure perl module, try JSON::Tiny,"

https://metacpan.org/pod/JSON::Tiny

JSON::Tiny says "it is among the fastest pure-Perl implementations of RFC
7159." But it doesn't say anything about "correct"ness.

So, what's the point of JSON::PP if JSON::Tiny does everything better and
is also pure perl?

Has anyone used any of these modules?

If I wanted to take a complex perl data structure, save it to JSON format,
and then have a python script read that JSON file, possibly modify the
structure, and save it back as JSON, and then my perl script open that
JSON back up, and read it back in again, which module is most likely to be
cross-language compatible?

Any help woudl be appreciated.
Greg