# What Is Ion?
+<!--
+<?php
+if (!function_exists("var_representation")) {
+ function var_representation($v) {
+ return print_r($v,true);
+ }
+}
+?>
+-->
+
Quoting the [official Ion documentation](https://amzn.github.io/ion-docs/):
**Amazon Ion** is a [richly-typed](ion/:%20Tutorial/:1.%20Getting%20started#Rich.type.system), [self-describing](ion/:%20Tutorial/:1.%20Getting%20started#Self-describing), hierarchical data serialization format offering [interchangeable binary and text](https://amzn.github.io/ion-docs/guides/why.html#dual-format-interoperability) representations. The [text format](https://amzn.github.io/ion-docs/docs/spec.html) (a superset of [JSON](http://json.org/)) is easy to read and author, supporting rapid prototyping.
ion\unserialize('
{"key":"value","more":{"data":123}}
{"key":"value","more":{"data":456}}
- ', new ion\Unserializer\PHP(multiSequence: true)
+ ', new ion\Unserializer\Unserializer(multiSequence: true)
)
);
?>