An evaluation of Protocol Buffer

Abstract

World is shrinking each day through the use of Internet and people are communicating better than before in this widely distributed network. There is a great need to manage this communication over various networks supporting different specifications. One of the widely used techniques for this type of data management is XML data interchange format. Google developers recently introduced Protocol Buffer as an alternative to XML claiming that it overcomes the shortcomings suffered by XML. This paper compares XML and Protocol Buffer data formats by extensive analysis of the two. The paper evaluates the claims made by Google by developing an algorithm to map an existing XML to Protocol Buffer format and drawing any conclusion on the efficiency and effectiveness of this format as compared to XML. It can be hoped that this work will contribute to the upcoming research in this field as people are looking for more robust data interchange format for the future of the Internet.