diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..485dee6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+.idea
diff --git a/bayesian.go b/bayesian.go
index a5ebac3..b74e79c 100644
--- a/bayesian.go
+++ b/bayesian.go
@@ -2,8 +2,10 @@ package bayesian
 
 import (
 	"encoding/gob"
+	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
 	"io"
+	"log"
 	"math"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
@@ -14,6 +16,15 @@ import (
 // we have not seen before appears in the class.
 const defaultProb = 0.00000000001
 
+// Serializer to persist learned model
+// gob by default
+type Serializer string
+
+const (
+	Gob  Serializer = "gob"
+	JSON Serializer = "json"
+)
+
 // ErrUnderflow is returned when an underflow is detected.
 var ErrUnderflow = errors.New("possible underflow detected")
 
@@ -44,12 +55,12 @@ type Classifier struct {
 // Classifier objects whose fields are modifiable by
 // reflection and are therefore writeable by gob.
 type serializableClassifier struct {
-	Classes         []Class
-	Learned         int
-	Seen            int
-	Datas           map[Class]*classData
-	TfIdf           bool
-	DidConvertTfIdf bool
+	Classes         []Class              `json:"c,omitempty"`
+	Learned         float64              `json:"l,omitempty"`
+	Seen            float64              `json:"s,omitempty"`
+	Datas           map[Class]*classData `json:"d,omitempty"`
+	TfIdf           bool                 `json:"t,omitempty"`
+	DidConvertTfIdf bool                 `json:"dc,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // classData holds the frequency data for words in a
@@ -57,9 +68,9 @@ type serializableClassifier struct {
 // structure with a trie-like structure for more
 // efficient storage.
 type classData struct {
-	Freqs   map[string]float64
-	FreqTfs map[string][]float64
-	Total   int
+	Freqs   map[string]float64   `json:"r,omitempty"`
+	FreqTfs map[string][]float64 `json:"ft,omitempty"`
+	Total   float64              `json:"t,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // newClassData creates a new empty classData node.
@@ -160,23 +171,52 @@ func NewClassifier(classes ...Class) (c *Classifier) {
 // NewClassifierFromFile loads an existing classifier from
 // file. The classifier was previously saved with a call
 // to c.WriteToFile(string).
-func NewClassifierFromFile(name string) (c *Classifier, err error) {
+func NewClassifierFromFile(name string, s ...Serializer) (c *Classifier, err error) {
 	file, err := os.Open(name)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	defer file.Close()
+	defer func() {
+		err := file.Close()
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Print(err)
+		}
+	}()
 
-	return NewClassifierFromReader(file)
+	return NewClassifierFromReader(file, s...)
 }
 
-// NewClassifierFromReader: This actually does the deserializing of a Gob encoded classifier
-func NewClassifierFromReader(r io.Reader) (c *Classifier, err error) {
-	dec := gob.NewDecoder(r)
+// NewClassifierFromReader: This actually does the deserializing of a Gob/JSON encoded classifier
+func NewClassifierFromReader(r io.Reader, s ...Serializer) (c *Classifier, err error) {
+	var ser Serializer
+	if len(s) == 1 {
+		ser = s[0]
+	}
+
 	w := new(serializableClassifier)
-	err = dec.Decode(w)
+	if ser == JSON {
+		dec := json.NewDecoder(r)
+		err = dec.Decode(w)
+		if err != nil {
+			return
+		}
+	} else {
+		dec := gob.NewDecoder(r)
+		err = dec.Decode(w)
+		if err != nil {
+			return
+		}
+	}
 
-	return &Classifier{w.Classes, w.Learned, int32(w.Seen), w.Datas, w.TfIdf, w.DidConvertTfIdf}, err
+	c = &Classifier{
+		w.Classes,
+		int(w.Learned),
+		int32(w.Seen),
+		w.Datas,
+		w.TfIdf,
+		w.DidConvertTfIdf,
+	}
+	return
 }
 
 // getPriors returns the prior probabilities for the
@@ -190,8 +230,8 @@ func (c *Classifier) getPriors() (priors []float64) {
 	sum := 0
 	for index, class := range c.Classes {
 		total := c.datas[class].Total
-		priors[index] = float64(total)
-		sum += total
+		priors[index] = total
+		sum += int(total)
 	}
 	if sum != 0 {
 		for i := 0; i < n; i++ {
@@ -213,7 +253,6 @@ func (c *Classifier) Seen() int {
 	return int(atomic.LoadInt32(&c.seen))
 }
 
-
 // IsTfIdf returns true if we are a classifier of type TfIdf
 func (c *Classifier) IsTfIdf() bool {
 	return c.tfIdf
@@ -225,7 +264,7 @@ func (c *Classifier) WordCount() (result []int) {
 	result = make([]int, len(c.Classes))
 	for inx, class := range c.Classes {
 		data := c.datas[class]
-		result[inx] = data.Total
+		result[inx] = int(data.Total)
 	}
 	return
 }
@@ -233,9 +272,10 @@ func (c *Classifier) WordCount() (result []int) {
 // Observe should be used when word-frequencies have been already been learned
 // externally (e.g., hadoop)
 func (c *Classifier) Observe(word string, count int, which Class) {
+	cnt := float64(count)
 	data := c.datas[which]
-	data.Freqs[word] += float64(count)
-	data.Total += count
+	data.Freqs[word] += cnt
+	data.Total += cnt
 }
 
 // Learn will accept new training documents for
@@ -292,7 +332,7 @@ func (c *Classifier) ConvertTermsFreqToTfIdf() {
 
 				// we always want a possitive TF-IDF score.
 				tf := c.datas[className].FreqTfs[wIndex][tfSampleIndex]
-				c.datas[className].FreqTfs[wIndex][tfSampleIndex] = math.Log1p(tf) * math.Log1p(float64(c.learned)/float64(c.datas[className].Total))
+				c.datas[className].FreqTfs[wIndex][tfSampleIndex] = math.Log1p(tf) * math.Log1p(float64(c.learned)/c.datas[className].Total)
 				tfIdfAdder += c.datas[className].FreqTfs[wIndex][tfSampleIndex]
 			}
 			// convert the 'counts' to TF-IDF's
@@ -468,70 +508,121 @@ func (c *Classifier) WordFrequencies(words []string) (freqMatrix [][]float64) {
 func (c *Classifier) WordsByClass(class Class) (freqMap map[string]float64) {
 	freqMap = make(map[string]float64)
 	for word, cnt := range c.datas[class].Freqs {
-		freqMap[word] = float64(cnt) / float64(c.datas[class].Total)
+		freqMap[word] = cnt / c.datas[class].Total
 	}
 
 	return freqMap
 }
 
-
 // WriteToFile serializes this classifier to a file.
-func (c *Classifier) WriteToFile(name string) (err error) {
+func (c *Classifier) WriteToFile(name string, s ...Serializer) (err error) {
 	file, err := os.OpenFile(name, os.O_WRONLY|os.O_CREATE, 0644)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	defer file.Close()
+	defer func() {
+		err := file.Close()
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Print(err)
+		}
+	}()
 
-	return c.WriteTo(file)
+	return c.WriteTo(file, s...)
 }
 
 // WriteClassesToFile writes all classes to files.
-func (c *Classifier) WriteClassesToFile(rootPath string) (err error) {
+func (c *Classifier) WriteClassesToFile(rootPath string, s ...Serializer) (err error) {
 	for name := range c.datas {
-		c.WriteClassToFile(name, rootPath)
+		err = c.WriteClassToFile(name, rootPath, s...)
+		if err != nil {
+			return
+		}
 	}
 	return
 }
 
 // WriteClassToFile writes a single class to file.
-func (c *Classifier) WriteClassToFile(name Class, rootPath string) (err error) {
+func (c *Classifier) WriteClassToFile(name Class, rootPath string, s ...Serializer) (err error) {
+	var ser Serializer
+	if len(s) == 1 {
+		ser = s[0]
+	}
+
 	data := c.datas[name]
 	fileName := filepath.Join(rootPath, string(name))
 	file, err := os.OpenFile(fileName, os.O_WRONLY|os.O_CREATE, 0644)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	defer file.Close()
+	defer func() {
+		err := file.Close()
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Print(err)
+		}
+	}()
+
+	if ser == JSON {
+		enc := json.NewEncoder(file)
+		return enc.Encode(data)
+	}
 
 	enc := gob.NewEncoder(file)
-	err = enc.Encode(data)
-	return
+	return enc.Encode(data)
 }
 
+// WriteTo serializes this classifier to JSON and write to Writer.
+func (c *Classifier) WriteTo(w io.Writer, s ...Serializer) (err error) {
+	var ser Serializer
+	if len(s) == 1 {
+		ser = s[0]
+	}
 
-// WriteTo serializes this classifier to GOB and write to Writer.
-func (c *Classifier) WriteTo(w io.Writer) (err error) {
-	enc := gob.NewEncoder(w)
-	err = enc.Encode(&serializableClassifier{c.Classes, c.learned, int(c.seen), c.datas, c.tfIdf, c.DidConvertTfIdf})
+	data := &serializableClassifier{
+		c.Classes,
+		float64(c.learned),
+		float64(c.seen),
+		c.datas,
+		c.tfIdf,
+		c.DidConvertTfIdf,
+	}
+	if ser == JSON {
+		enc := json.NewEncoder(w)
+		return enc.Encode(data)
+	}
 
-	return
+	enc := gob.NewEncoder(w)
+	return enc.Encode(data)
 }
 
 // ReadClassFromFile loads existing class data from a
 // file.
-func (c *Classifier) ReadClassFromFile(class Class, location string) (err error) {
+func (c *Classifier) ReadClassFromFile(class Class, location string, s ...Serializer) (err error) {
+	var ser Serializer
+	if len(s) == 1 {
+		ser = s[0]
+	}
+
 	fileName := filepath.Join(location, string(class))
 	file, err := os.Open(fileName)
 
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	defer file.Close()
+	defer func() {
+		err := file.Close()
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Print(err)
+		}
+	}()
 
-	dec := gob.NewDecoder(file)
 	w := new(classData)
-	err = dec.Decode(w)
+	if ser == JSON {
+		dec := json.NewDecoder(file)
+		err = dec.Decode(w)
+	} else {
+		dec := gob.NewDecoder(file)
+		err = dec.Decode(w)
+	}
 
 	c.learned++
 	c.datas[class] = w
diff --git a/bayesian_test.go b/bayesian_test.go
index a5d6be1..8981f2f 100644
--- a/bayesian_test.go
+++ b/bayesian_test.go
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ const (
 
 func Assert(t *testing.T, condition bool, args ...interface{}) {
 	if !condition {
-		t.Fatal(args)
+		t.Fatal(args...)
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..618ab2e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+module github.com/jbrukh/bayesian
+
+go 1.14