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An in-depth look at why Protobuf can outperform JSON for modern APIs, with practical Dart examples showing how strong typing, binary serialization, and shared schemas improve both performance and developer experience.

And I find it surprising that JSON is so omnipresent when there are far more efficient alternatives, sometimes better suited to a truly modern development experience. Among them: Protocol Buffers, or Protobuf.

  • JakenVeina@midwest.social
    13·
    19 days ago

    I enjoyed my brief time with gRPC and protobuf, when I was trying them out, and I’d happily use them again, but I think it’s obvious why JSON and REST are more dominant.

    For one, gRPC works great for simple server/client apps, but it makes them VERY tightly coupled. If your product is an API itself, open for public use, tight coupling is a hindrance more than a benefit.

    And more to the point… have you ever tried to DEBUG gRPC traffic? The efficiency of gRPC is top notch, t optimizes for serialization, deserialization, and bandwidth, all at once. But JSON is human readable, and when you throw in HTTP compression, the efficiency is close enough to protobuf to serve the vast majority of scenarios. JSON is just far more practical.

  • refalo
    5·
    19 days ago

    I find it surprising that JSON is so omnipresent when there are far more efficient alternatives

    Do you also find it surprising that different types of food exist? /s