http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=1010286


in reply to JSON vs GPB

You probably mean "minimum effort in maintaining" the service-server.

JSON is just a data-interchange format and there are several mature modules on CPAN that implement JSON. I doubt that is the case for GPB, at least a quick search on CPAN only found Google::ProtocolBuffers which dates back to 2008 and is at version 0.0.8. GPB is now at version 2.5 dated 4th of December 2012, so one really wonders how relevant a 2008 implementation still is.

If you go the Perl JSON way, the maintenance effort becomes virtually nil as far as JSON is concerned since the active module authors will take care of that aspect.

GPB looks more complicated (it is a binary format) than JSON (text format, so easier to debug and "read") and for JSON there are a lot of implementations in many languages (more than 50 languages at last count). GPB has only a few implementations and the Google site does not even list the Perl one. Sorry, Google does list more implementations, but they call it "third party add-ons". How strange!

CountZero

A program should be light and agile, its subroutines connected like a string of pearls. The spirit and intent of the program should be retained throughout. There should be neither too little or too much, neither needless loops nor useless variables, neither lack of structure nor overwhelming rigidity." - The Tao of Programming, 4.1 - Geoffrey James

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