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Protobuf

Protocol Buffers (Protobuf) is a language-neutral, platform-neutral, extensible mechanism for serializing structured data.

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Overview

Developed by Google, Protobuf is a binary serialization format that is smaller, faster, and simpler than XML or JSON. It is widely used for communication between microservices, especially with gRPC.

How it Works

  1. Define: You define how you want your data to be structured in a .proto file.
  2. Compile: Use the Protobuf compiler to generate source code in your preferred language.
  3. Use: Use the generated classes to read and write your structured data.

Benefits

  • Efficiency: Binary format is much smaller than text-based formats.
  • Type Safety: Generated code provides strong typing.
  • Backward Compatibility: New fields can be added without breaking old binaries.