Real Python Podcast Episode #110 Title Artwork

Episode 110: Advantages of Protobuf for Serialization in Python

The Real Python Podcast

May 20, 2022 58m

Would you like a way to send structured serialized data between different platforms and languages? What if the data was self-documenting, could automatically generate Python code, and would validate itself? This week on the show, Liran Haimovitch talks about protocol buffers and communicating with microservices through Remote Procedure Calls (RPC).

Protocol buffers, aka protobuf, are a language-neutral, platform-neutral system for serializing structured data. Liran talks about how they go beyond text-based protocols like JSON, providing the benefits above, along with faster transmissions and a smaller footprint.

Liran shares how his company uses protobuf to communicate between their tools. We also discuss using gRPC to communicate between microservices and scaling infrastructure in either direction.

Course Spotlight: Testing Your Code With pytest

In this video course, you’ll learn how to take your testing to the next level with pytest. You’ll cover intermediate and advanced pytest features such as fixtures, marks, parameters, and plugins. With pytest, you can make your test suites fast, effective, and less painful to maintain.

Topics:

00:00:00 – Introduction
00:01:59 – PyCon US 2022 Talk on protobuf
00:04:46 – PyCon 2019 Talk on Understanding Python’s Debugging Internals
00:05:34 – The Production-First Mindset Podcast
00:07:03 – Protobuf and serialization
00:11:17 – Static vs dynamic serializers
00:13:58 – Text vs binary serializers and metadata
00:21:08 – How long have you been using protobuf?
00:21:40 – What does it look like to set up?
00:24:45 – Video Course Spotlight
00:26:11 – Performance challenges and trade-offs
00:34:29 – Remote procedure calls
00:41:13 – Using RPC for microservices
00:47:21 – Scaling your infrastructure up or down
00:50:35 – Working across different languages
00:54:02 – What is Rookout?
00:55:11 – What are you excited about in the world of Python?
00:55:59 – What do you want to learn next?
00:56:57 – How can people learn more about what you do?
00:57:31 – Thanks and goodbye

Show Links:

Level Up Your Python Skills With These Courses:

Working With JSON in Python

Python Web Applications: Deploy Your Script as a Flask App

Deploy Your Python Script on the Web With Flask

Testing Your Code With pytest

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