SCON: A Textual Serialization Format with Structural Deduplication, Tabular Encoding, and Token-Efficient Representation
Abstract
SCON (Structured Compact Object Notation) is a human-readable, text-based serialization format designed as a compact alternative to JSON for payload-sensitive workloads. Tabular encoding eliminates repeated keys in uniform arrays, and optional structural deduplication (via Merkle-style hashing) factorizes recurring subtrees into named references. Benchmarks on canonical datasets show payloads 13–29% smaller than JSON without deduplication (up to 66% with deduplication). Reference implementations in Rust, PHP, and JavaScript are provided.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Algorithms and Data Compression
Advanced Database Systems and Queries
Logic
programming
and type systems
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
- Publication date
- 2 March 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Preprint