Fix JSON module docs.

1 files changed, 108 insertions, 142 deletions

diff --git a/Doc/library/json.rst b/Doc/library/json.rst
index d438a7a..a0a62d1 100644
--- a/Doc/library/json.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/json.rst
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
-:mod:`json` JSON encoder and decoder
-====================================
+:mod:`json` --- JSON encoder and decoder
+========================================
 
 .. module:: json
-   :synopsis: encode and decode the JSON format
+   :synopsis: Encode and decode the JSON format.
 .. moduleauthor:: Bob Ippolito <bob@redivi.com>
 .. sectionauthor:: Bob Ippolito <bob@redivi.com>
 .. versionadded:: 2.6
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@
 JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) <http://json.org> is a subset of JavaScript
 syntax (ECMA-262 3rd edition) used as a lightweight data interchange format.
 
-:mod:`json` exposes an API familiar to uses of the standard library marshal and
-pickle modules.
+:mod:`json` exposes an API familiar to users of the standard library
+:mod:`marshal` and :mod:`pickle` modules.
 
 Encoding basic Python object hierarchies::
     
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ Specializing JSON object decoding::
     >>> json.loads('1.1', parse_float=decimal.Decimal)
     Decimal('1.1')
 
-Extending JSONEncoder::
+Extending :class:`JSONEncoder`::
     
     >>> import json
     >>> class ComplexEncoder(json.JSONEncoder):
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ Using json.tool from the shell to validate and pretty-print::
 
 .. note:: 
 
-   Note that the JSON produced by this module's default settings is a subset of
+   The JSON produced by this module's default settings is a subset of
    YAML, so it may be used as a serializer for that as well.
 
 
@@ -115,139 +115,104 @@ Basic Usage
 
 .. function:: dump(obj, fp[, skipkeys[, ensure_ascii[, check_circular[, allow_nan[, cls[, indent[, separators[, encoding[, default[, **kw]]]]]]]]]])
 
-    Serialize *obj* as a JSON formatted stream to *fp* (a
-    ``.write()``-supporting file-like object).
+   Serialize *obj* as a JSON formatted stream to *fp* (a ``.write()``-supporting
+   file-like object).
 
-    If *skipkeys* is ``True`` (It is ``False`` by default.), then ``dict`` keys
-    that are not basic types (``str``, ``unicode``, ``int``, ``long``,
-    ``float``, ``bool``, ``None``) will be skipped instead of raising a
-    :exc:`TypeError`.
+   If *skipkeys* is ``True`` (default: ``False``), then dict keys that are not
+   of a basic type (:class:`str`, :class:`unicode`, :class:`int`, :class:`long`,
+   :class:`float`, :class:`bool`, ``None``) will be skipped instead of raising a
+   :exc:`TypeError`.
 
-    If *ensure_ascii* is ``False`` (It is ``True`` by default.), then the some
-    chunks written to *fp* may be ``unicode`` instances, subject to normal
-    Python ``str`` to ``unicode`` coercion rules. Unless ``fp.write()``
-    explicitly understands ``unicode`` (as in ``codecs.getwriter()``) this is
-    likely to cause an error.
+   If *ensure_ascii* is ``False`` (default: ``True``), then some chunks written
+   to *fp* may be :class:`unicode` instances, subject to normal Python
+   :class:`str` to :class:`unicode` coercion rules.  Unless ``fp.write()``
+   explicitly understands :class:`unicode` (as in :func:`codecs.getwriter`) this
+   is likely to cause an error.
 
-    If *check_circular* is ``False``, then the circular reference check for
-    container types will be skipped and a circular reference will result in an
-    :exc:`OverflowError` (or worse).
+   If *check_circular* is ``False`` (default: ``True``), then the circular
+   reference check for container types will be skipped and a circular reference
+   will result in an :exc:`OverflowError` (or worse).
 
-    If *allow_nan* is ``False``, then it will be a :exc:`ValueError` to
-    serialize out of range ``float`` values (``nan``, ``inf``, ``-inf``) in
-    strict compliance of the JSON specification, instead of using the JavaScript
-    equivalents (``NaN``, ``Infinity``, ``-Infinity``).
+   If *allow_nan* is ``False`` (default: ``True``), then it will be a
+   :exc:`ValueError` to serialize out of range :class:`float` values (``nan``,
+   ``inf``, ``-inf``) in strict compliance of the JSON specification, instead of
+   using the JavaScript equivalents (``NaN``, ``Infinity``, ``-Infinity``).
 
-    If *indent* is a non-negative integer, then JSON array elements and object
-    members will be pretty-printed with that indent level. An indent level of 0
-    will only insert newlines. ``None`` is the most compact representation.
+   If *indent* is a non-negative integer, then JSON array elements and object
+   members will be pretty-printed with that indent level.  An indent level of 0
+   will only insert newlines.  ``None`` (the default) selects the most compact
+   representation.
 
-    If *separators* is an ``(item_separator, dict_separator)`` tuple then it
-    will be used instead of the default ``(', ', ': ')`` separators.  ``(',',
-    ':')`` is the most compact JSON representation.
+   If *separators* is an ``(item_separator, dict_separator)`` tuple, then it
+   will be used instead of the default ``(', ', ': ')`` separators.  ``(',',
+   ':')`` is the most compact JSON representation.
 
-    *encoding* is the character encoding for str instances, default is UTF-8.
+   *encoding* is the character encoding for str instances, default is UTF-8.
 
-    *default(obj)* is a function that should return a serializable version of
-    obj or raise :exc:`TypeError`. The default simply raises :exc:`TypeError`.
+   *default(obj)* is a function that should return a serializable version of
+   *obj* or raise :exc:`TypeError`.  The default simply raises :exc:`TypeError`.
 
-    To use a custom :class:`JSONEncoder`` subclass (e.g. one that overrides the
-    ``.default()`` method to serialize additional types), specify it with the
-    *cls* kwarg.
+   To use a custom :class:`JSONEncoder`` subclass (e.g. one that overrides the
+   :meth:`default` method to serialize additional types), specify it with the
+   *cls* kwarg.
 
 
-.. function:: dump(obj[, skipkeys[, ensure_ascii[, check_circular[, allow_nan[, cls[, indent[, separators[, encoding[, default[, **kw]]]]]]]]]])
+.. function:: dumps(obj[, skipkeys[, ensure_ascii[, check_circular[, allow_nan[, cls[, indent[, separators[, encoding[, default[, **kw]]]]]]]]]])
 
-    Serialize *obj* to a JSON formatted ``str``.
+   Serialize *obj* to a JSON formatted :class:`str`.
 
-    If *skipkeys* is ``True`` (It is ``False`` by default.), then ``dict`` keys
-    that are not basic types (``str``, ``unicode``, ``int``, ``long``,
-    ``float``, ``bool``, ``None``) will be skipped instead of raising a
-    :exc:`TypeError`.
+   If *ensure_ascii* is ``False``, then the return value will be a
+   :class:`unicode` instance.  The other arguments have the same meaning as in
+   :func:`dump`.
 
-    If *ensure_ascii* is ``False``, then the return value will be a ``unicode``
-    instance subject to normal Python ``str`` to ``unicode`` coercion rules
-    instead of being escaped to an ASCII ``str``.
 
-    If *check_circular* is ``False``, then the circular reference check for
-    container types will be skipped and a circular reference will result in an
-    :exc:`OverflowError` (or worse).
-
-    If *allow_nan* is ``False``, then it will be a :exc:`ValueError` to
-    serialize out of range ``float`` values (``nan``, ``inf``, ``-inf``) in
-    strict compliance of the JSON specification, instead of using the JavaScript
-    equivalents (``NaN``, ``Infinity``, ``-Infinity``).
-
-    If *indent* is a non-negative integer, then JSON array elements and object
-    members will be pretty-printed with that indent level. An indent level of 0
-    will only insert newlines. ``None`` is the most compact representation.
-
-    If *separators* is an ``(item_separator, dict_separator)`` tuple then it
-    will be used instead of the default ``(', ', ': ')`` separators.  ``(',',
-    ':')`` is the most compact JSON representation.
-
-    *encoding* is the character encoding for str instances, default is UTF-8.
-
-    *default(obj)* is a function that should return a serializable version of
-    obj or raise :exc:`TypeError`. The default simply raises :exc:`TypeError`.
-
-    To use a custom :class:`JSONEncoder`` subclass (e.g. one that overrides the
-    ``.default()`` method to serialize additional types), specify it with the
-    *cls* kwarg.
-
-
-.. function loads(s[, encoding[, cls[, object_hook[, parse_float[, parse_int[, parse_constant[, **kw]]]]]]])
+.. function load(fp[, encoding[, cls[, object_hook[, parse_float[, parse_int[, parse_constant[, **kw]]]]]]])
 
-   Deserialize *s* (a ``str`` or ``unicode`` instance containing a JSON
+   Deserialize *fp* (a ``.read()``-supporting file-like object containing a JSON
    document) to a Python object.
 
-   If *s* is a ``str`` instance and is encoded with an ASCII based encoding
-   other than utf-8 (e.g. latin-1) then an appropriate ``encoding`` name must be
-   specified. Encodings that are not ASCII based (such as UCS-2) are not allowed
-   and should be decoded to ``unicode`` first.
+   If the contents of *fp* are encoded with an ASCII based encoding other than
+   UTF-8 (e.g. latin-1), then an appropriate *encoding* name must be specified.
+   Encodings that are not ASCII based (such as UCS-2) are not allowed, and
+   should be wrapped with ``codecs.getreader(fp)(encoding)``, or simply decoded
+   to a :class:`unicode` object and passed to :func:`loads`.
 
    *object_hook* is an optional function that will be called with the result of
-   any object literal decode (a ``dict``). The return value of ``object_hook``
-   will be used instead of the ``dict``. This feature can be used to implement
-   custom decoders (e.g. JSON-RPC class hinting).
+   any object literal decode (a :class:`dict`).  The return value of
+   *object_hook* will be used instead of the :class:`dict`.  This feature can be used
+   to implement custom decoders (e.g. JSON-RPC class hinting).
 
    *parse_float*, if specified, will be called with the string of every JSON
-   float to be decoded. By default, this is equivalent to
-   ``float(num_str)``. This can be used to use another datatype or parser for
-   JSON floats (e.g. decimal.Decimal).
+   float to be decoded.  By default, this is equivalent to ``float(num_str)``.
+   This can be used to use another datatype or parser for JSON floats
+   (e.g. :class:`decimal.Decimal`).
 
    *parse_int*, if specified, will be called with the string of every JSON int
-   to be decoded. By default this is equivalent to int(num_str). This can be
-   used to use another datatype or parser for JSON integers (e.g. float).
+   to be decoded.  By default, this is equivalent to ``int(num_str)``.  This can
+   be used to use another datatype or parser for JSON integers
+   (e.g. :class:`float`).
 
    *parse_constant*, if specified, will be called with one of the following
-   strings: -Infinity, Infinity, NaN, null, true, false.  This can be used to
-   raise an exception if invalid JSON numbers are encountered.
+   strings: ``'-Infinity'``, ``'Infinity'``, ``'NaN'``, ``'null'``, ``'true'``,
+   ``'false'``.  This can be used to raise an exception if invalid JSON numbers
+   are encountered.
 
    To use a custom :class:`JSONDecoder` subclass, specify it with the ``cls``
-   kwarg. Additional keyword arguments will be passed to the constructor of the
+   kwarg.  Additional keyword arguments will be passed to the constructor of the
    class.
 
 
-.. function load(fp[, encoding[, cls[, object_hook[, parse_float[, parse_int[, parse_constant[, **kw]]]]]]])
+.. function loads(s[, encoding[, cls[, object_hook[, parse_float[, parse_int[, parse_constant[, **kw]]]]]]])
 
-   Deserialize *fp* (a ``.read()``-supporting file-like object containing a JSON
+   Deserialize *s* (a :class:`str` or :class:`unicode` instance containing a JSON
    document) to a Python object.
 
-   If the contents of *fp* is encoded with an ASCII based encoding other than
-   utf-8 (e.g. latin-1), then an appropriate ``encoding`` name must be
-   specified. Encodings that are not ASCII based (such as UCS-2) are not
-   allowed, and should be wrapped with :func:`codecs.getreader(fp)(encoding)`,
-   or simply decoded to a ``unicode`` object and passed to ``loads()``
+   If *s* is a :class:`str` instance and is encoded with an ASCII based encoding
+   other than UTF-8 (e.g. latin-1), then an appropriate *encoding* name must be
+   specified.  Encodings that are not ASCII based (such as UCS-2) are not
+   allowed and should be decoded to :class:`unicode` first.
 
-   *object_hook* is an optional function that will be called with the result of
-   any object literal decode (a ``dict``). The return value of *object_hook*
-   will be used instead of the ``dict``. This feature can be used to implement
-   custom decoders (e.g. JSON-RPC class hinting).
-
-   To use a custom :class:`JSONDecoder` subclass, specify it with the ``cls``
-   kwarg. Additional keyword arguments will be passed to the constructor of the
-   class.
+   The other arguments have the same meaning as in :func:`dump`.
 
 
 Encoders and decoders
@@ -255,7 +220,7 @@ Encoders and decoders
 
 .. class:: JSONDecoder([encoding[, object_hook[, parse_float[, parse_int[, parse_constant[, strict]]]]]])
 
-   Simple JSON decoder
+   Simple JSON decoder.
 
    Performs the following translations in decoding by default:
 
@@ -282,50 +247,52 @@ Encoders and decoders
    It also understands ``NaN``, ``Infinity``, and ``-Infinity`` as their
    corresponding ``float`` values, which is outside the JSON spec.
 
-   *encoding* determines the encoding used to interpret any ``str`` objects
-   decoded by this instance (utf-8 by default).  It has no effect when decoding
-   ``unicode`` objects.
+   *encoding* determines the encoding used to interpret any :class:`str` objects
+   decoded by this instance (UTF-8 by default).  It has no effect when decoding
+   :class:`unicode` objects.
 
-   Note that currently only encodings that are a superset of ASCII work,
-   strings of other encodings should be passed in as ``unicode``.
+   Note that currently only encodings that are a superset of ASCII work, strings
+   of other encodings should be passed in as :class:`unicode`.
 
    *object_hook*, if specified, will be called with the result of every JSON
    object decoded and its return value will be used in place of the given
-   ``dict``.  This can be used to provide custom deserializations (e.g. to
+   :class:`dict`.  This can be used to provide custom deserializations (e.g. to
    support JSON-RPC class hinting).
 
    *parse_float*, if specified, will be called with the string of every JSON
-   float to be decoded. By default this is equivalent to float(num_str). This
-   can be used to use another datatype or parser for JSON floats
-   (e.g. decimal.Decimal).
+   float to be decoded.  By default, this is equivalent to ``float(num_str)``.
+   This can be used to use another datatype or parser for JSON floats
+   (e.g. :class:`decimal.Decimal`).
 
    *parse_int*, if specified, will be called with the string of every JSON int
-   to be decoded. By default this is equivalent to int(num_str). This can be
-   used to use another datatype or parser for JSON integers (e.g. float).
+   to be decoded.  By default, this is equivalent to ``int(num_str)``.  This can
+   be used to use another datatype or parser for JSON integers
+   (e.g. :class:`float`).
 
    *parse_constant*, if specified, will be called with one of the following
-   strings: -Infinity, Infinity, NaN, null, true, false.  This can be used to
-   raise an exception if invalid JSON numbers are encountered.
+   strings: ``'-Infinity'``, ``'Infinity'``, ``'NaN'``, ``'null'``, ``'true'``,
+   ``'false'``.  This can be used to raise an exception if invalid JSON numbers
+   are encountered.
 
 
    .. method:: decode(s)
 
-   Return the Python representation of *s* (a ``str`` or ``unicode`` instance
-   containing a JSON document)
+      Return the Python representation of *s* (a :class:`str` or
+      :class:`unicode` instance containing a JSON document)
 
    .. method:: raw_decode(s)
 
-   Decode a JSON document from *s* (a ``str`` or ``unicode`` beginning with a
-   JSON document) and return a 2-tuple of the Python representation and the
-   index in *s* where the document ended.
+      Decode a JSON document from *s* (a :class:`str` or :class:`unicode`
+      beginning with a JSON document) and return a 2-tuple of the Python
+      representation and the index in *s* where the document ended.
 
-   This can be used to decode a JSON document from a string that may have
-   extraneous data at the end.
+      This can be used to decode a JSON document from a string that may have
+      extraneous data at the end.
 
 
 .. class:: JSONEncoder([skipkeys[, ensure_ascii[, check_circular[, allow_nan[, sort_keys[, indent[, separators[, encoding[, default]]]]]]]]])
 
-   Extensible JSON <http://json.org> encoder for Python data structures.
+   Extensible JSON encoder for Python data structures.
 
    Supports the following objects and types by default:
 
@@ -348,7 +315,7 @@ Encoders and decoders
    +-------------------+---------------+
 
    To extend this to recognize other objects, subclass and implement a
-   ``.default()`` method with another method that returns a serializable object
+   :meth:`default` method with another method that returns a serializable object
    for ``o`` if possible, otherwise it should call the superclass implementation
    (to raise :exc:`TypeError`).
 
@@ -356,31 +323,32 @@ Encoders and decoders
    attempt encoding of keys that are not str, int, long, float or None.  If
    *skipkeys* is ``True``, such items are simply skipped.
 
-   If *ensure_ascii* is ``True``, the output is guaranteed to be ``str`` objects
-   with all incoming unicode characters escaped.  If *ensure_ascii* is
-   ``False``, the output will be unicode object.
+   If *ensure_ascii* is ``True`` (the default), the output is guaranteed to be
+   :class:`str` objects with all incoming unicode characters escaped.  If
+   *ensure_ascii* is ``False``, the output will be a unicode object.
 
    If *check_circular* is ``True`` (the default), then lists, dicts, and custom
    encoded objects will be checked for circular references during encoding to
    prevent an infinite recursion (which would cause an :exc:`OverflowError`).
    Otherwise, no such check takes place.
 
-   If *allow_nan* is ``True`` (the default), then ``NaN``, ``Infinity``, and ``-Infinity``
-   will be encoded as such.  This behavior is not JSON specification compliant,
-   but is consistent with most JavaScript based encoders and decoders.
-   Otherwise, it will be a :exc:`ValueError` to encode such floats.
+   If *allow_nan* is ``True`` (the default), then ``NaN``, ``Infinity``, and
+   ``-Infinity`` will be encoded as such.  This behavior is not JSON
+   specification compliant, but is consistent with most JavaScript based
+   encoders and decoders.  Otherwise, it will be a :exc:`ValueError` to encode
+   such floats.
 
    If *sort_keys* is ``True`` (the default), then the output of dictionaries
    will be sorted by key; this is useful for regression tests to ensure that
    JSON serializations can be compared on a day-to-day basis.
 
-   If *indent* is a non-negative integer (It is ``None`` by default.), then JSON
+   If *indent* is a non-negative integer (it is ``None`` by default), then JSON
    array elements and object members will be pretty-printed with that indent
    level.  An indent level of 0 will only insert newlines.  ``None`` is the most
    compact representation.
 
-   If specified, *separators* should be a (item_separator, key_separator) tuple.
-   The default is ``(', ', ': ')``.  To get the most compact JSON
+   If specified, *separators* should be an ``(item_separator, key_separator)``
+   tuple.  The default is ``(', ', ': ')``.  To get the most compact JSON
    representation, you should specify ``(',', ':')`` to eliminate whitespace.
 
    If specified, *default* is a function that gets called for objects that can't
@@ -413,7 +381,7 @@ Encoders and decoders
 
    .. method:: encode(o)
 
-      Return a JSON string representation of a Python data structure, *o*. For
+      Return a JSON string representation of a Python data structure, *o*.  For
       example::
 
         >>> JSONEncoder().encode({"foo": ["bar", "baz"]})
@@ -423,9 +391,7 @@ Encoders and decoders
    .. method:: iterencode(o)
 
       Encode the given object, *o*, and yield each string representation as
-      available.
-
-      For example::
+      available.  For example::
             
             for chunk in JSONEncoder().iterencode(bigobject):
                 mysocket.write(chunk)