Virtual vs Actual Tree

A JsonVirtualTree is a virtual tree of JsonValue nodes, each type with a node type specific interface.

Underlying implementation of the actual JSON document is the JsonTree which exposes all node types as JsonNode.

JsonValue API	JsonNode API
JsonValue#node() =>	<= JsonValue.of(node)
virtual 👻	actual ☠️
high level abstraction	low level abstraction
the JSON assumed	the actual JSON
navigation without requiring existence (no exceptions)	navigation demands existence (otherwise throws exceptions)
extendable tree API	non-extendable tree API
JsonObject, JsonArray, JsonNumber, JsonString, JsonBoolean	JsonNode + JsonNodeType
JsonValue (API all above have in common)	JsonNode
JsonMixed (API of all above togehter)	JsonNode
read-only (with views)	immutable (transformations to new trees)
extendable user type mapping (see JsonTypedAccessStore)	build in mapping to JDK types