gRPC Protocol Buffers
gRPC Protocol Buffers (protobuf) is a language-agnostic, high-performance data serialization format and interface definition language used primarily with gRPC for efficient communication between services. It defines structured data in .proto files, which are compiled to generate client and server code in various programming languages, enabling fast and compact binary serialization. This combination is widely used in microservices, distributed systems, and APIs where low latency and high throughput are critical.
Developers should learn and use gRPC Protocol Buffers when building high-performance, cross-language microservices or APIs that require efficient, type-safe communication, such as in cloud-native applications, IoT systems, or real-time data processing. It is particularly valuable in scenarios with strict latency requirements, large-scale distributed architectures, or when integrating services written in different programming languages, as it reduces network overhead and ensures compatibility through strongly-typed contracts.