title: Python 2.6 JSON decoding performance
body: <p>I'm using the <code>json</code> module in Python 2.6 to load and decode JSON files. However I'm currently getting slower than expected performance. I'm using a test case which is 6MB in size and <code>json.loads()</code> is taking 20 seconds.</p>
  
  <p>I thought the <code>json</code> module had some native code to speed up the decoding?</p>
  
  <p>How do I check if this is being used?</p>
  
  <p>As a comparison, I downloaded and installed the <code>python-cjson</code> module, and <code>cjson.decode()</code> is taking 1 second for the same test case.</p>
  
  <p>I'd rather use the JSON module provided with Python 2.6 so that users of my code aren't required to install additional modules.</p>
  
  <p>(I'm developing on Mac OS X, but I getting a similar result on Windows XP.)</p>