I was interviewed on episode 256 of the Go Time podcast! We talked about Protocol Buffers, gRPC, and some common misconceptions about both. If you’d prefer to download an MP3, I’ve archived a copy of the episode.
I tried to emphasize that:
- Protobuf and gRPC are useful because they reduce developer toil. Any performance improvements are nice, but they’re secondary.
- Protobuf isn’t just for binary data — it works just as well with JSON.
- gRPC is a simple, HTTP-based protocol. Google’s gRPC implementations optimize for Google’s problems, but there’s plenty room for gRPC implementations that work better for most Gophers.
Overall, I found it surprisingly hard to stay on track during the discussion. I have so much more respect for previous Go Time guests!