Shopify noob: In the documentation, why is JSON shown?

Question

I'm trying to write a shopify store, and I noticed in the documentation (ex: http://docs.shopify.com/api/product_variant#show ) there's a lot of examples with JSON. When would I need JSON? It looks like all I need to know is Liquid to style everything. I don't see where JSON would be applicable. Could someone please explain?

Answer 1

That link with the JSON examples is for the Shopify API, which you would use if you wanted to make a Shopify app. You do not need the Shopify API if you just want to create a store and edit its theme (this is where you use Liquid).

Shopify API docs:

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Shopify theme docs:

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