There are some issues with building protobuf 2.4.1 from source on a Mac. There is a patch that also has to be applied. All this is contained within the homebrew protobuf241 formula, so I would advise using it. To install protocol buffer version 2.4.1 type the following into a terminal: brew tap homebrew/versions brew install … Read more
ASN.1 is an ISO/ISE standard. It has a very readable source language and a variety of back-ends, both binary and human-readable. Being an international standard (and an old one at that!) the source language is a bit kitchen-sinkish (in about the same way that the Atlantic Ocean is a bit wet) but it is extremely … Read more
I wrote a detailed comparison of a few serialization systems, including Protobufs and FlatBuffers, here: https://kentonv.github.io/capnproto/news/2014-06-17-capnproto-flatbuffers-sbe.html However, the comparison focuses more on comparing the three new “zero-copy” serialization systems, and includes Protobufs mostly as a reference point. Also, I’m the author of Cap’n Proto, and also the author of Protobufs v2 (I was responsible for … Read more
Since protobuf release 3.15, proto3 supports using the optional keyword (just as in proto2) to give a scalar field presence information. syntax = “proto3”; message Foo { int32 bar = 1; optional int32 baz = 2; } A has_baz()/hasBaz() method is generated for the optional field above, just as it was in proto2. Under the … Read more
Kenton’s comment below is sound advice: … we as developers are really bad at guessing what we might want in the future. So I recommend being safe by always defining custom params and results types for every method, even if they are empty. Answering my own question: Looking through the default proto files, I came … Read more
The usefulness of required has been at the heart of many a debate and flame war. Large camps have existed on both sides. One camp liked guaranteeing a value was present and was willing to live with its limitations but the other camp felt required dangerous or unhelpful as it can’t be safely added nor … Read more