How Different C# Data Structures Serialize to Json

My latest project is a Json Serializer/Deserializer (Ferris.Json).

What does a Dictionary, LinkedList or SortedSet look like when serialized to Json?

I didn’t really know, but explored how existing libraries serialized the following data structures.

TLDR - The List

Every data structure I tested falls into one of two groups:

• ["one","two","three"]
  • The following datastructures all serialize to the above.
  • List<string>
  • HashSet<string>
  • Queue<string>
  • Stack<string>
  • LinkedList<string>
  • SortedSet<string>
• {"one":1,"two":2,"three":3}
  • The following datastructures all serialize to the above.
  • Dictionary<string, int>
  • SortedDictionary<string, int>
  • SortedList<string, int>

Both Newtonsoft and System.Text.Json follow the above conventions. So I will be doing the same.