Lecture on gRPC by Brian Trong

Introduction

• Speaker: Brian Trong
• Topic: gRPC (gRPC Remote Procedure Call)
• Introduced: 2015
• Governance: Cloud Native Computing Foundation

Overview Example

• Application Setup: Front-end communicates with back-end microservices
  • Microservices language examples: Python (analytics), Java, Golang
  • Communication Focus: Only between microservices (not front-end to back-end)

Key Features of gRPC

Convenience & Scalability

• Without gRPC: Diverse HTTP client libraries by language (Python, Java, Golang)
• With gRPC: Unified HTTP/2.0 connection handling, reducing complexity for developers

Code Generation

• Protocol Buffers (protobuf): Define communication contracts
  • Schema Definition: Fields, object types, required/optional fields
• Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs): Define remotely callable procedures
• Compiler Role: Transforms protofile into source code in specific language
  • Example: Generates Java classes/interfaces as per protofile schema

Performance

• HTTP/2.0 vs. HTTP/1.1: Enhanced performance with modern protocol
• Protocol Buffers Serialization: Sends as binaries, more efficient than JSON
  • JSON Limitations: Not compressed, inefficiency in key-value pairs
• Alternative Compression (e.g., gzip): Requires manual implementation across microservices
  • gRPC Advantage: Handles compression uniformly, reducing developer burden

Summary

• Convenience: Code generation, simplified client libraries
• Performance: Modern protocol, efficient binary serialization
• Not a Universal Solution: Effective for certain application scenarios

Recommendations

• Further Learning: Videos suggested by the speaker
• Engagement: Questions via comments, subscribe for updates