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How to select the data transmission format of instant messaging application

2022-06-26 05:05:00 【JackJiang-】

Preface

Instant messaging applications （ Include IM Chat app 、 Real time message push application, etc ） In the early stage of development, when selecting technology , About the choice of data transmission format , In the eyes of instant messaging developers , It is a very controversial topic .

Analyze carefully , The probable reason is ：

There are a variety of protocols or encapsulation formats to choose from ：
There is a wide range of options ：XMPP、Protobuf、JSON、 private 2 Base number 、MQTT、 Freeze frame XML、Plain text wait ;
The same format is not applicable to most scenarios ：
Different scenarios have the same consideration, and the choice of agreement goes to It is linked with this , such as ： Mobile IM Or push technology XMPP Such an agreement , In most cases, it will be sprayed ;
Developers have their own preferences for the selected format ：
Some people or teams have different experience and technical accumulation in one or several formats , It also contributes to their preference for one or more agreements .

In fact, to sum up the above reasons, we can know , The reason why there are different sounds for the data transmission format of instant messaging applications , The root cause lies in the concrete analysis of specific things , What protocol to choose depends on the scenario 、 Determined by the technical accumulation of the team 、 Even determined by the project cycle and cost , There is no unique solution here , Only the most suitable data transmission format , There is no such thing as the best format .

Of course , The selection of instant messaging transmission format in this article , It is the words of the original author , There may be a lot of controversy , But if you can bring some inspiration for the technology selection of your instant messaging application development , I believe this is what the author intended .（ This article is published synchronously in ：http://www.52im.net/thread-276-1-1.html）

Exchange of learning

- Instant messaging development communication group ： 215891622 [ recommend ]

More information

Mobile IM Development , Recommended reading ：《 Beginner level one is enough ： Develop mobile from scratch IM》.

The selection of data format needs to consider

[1] Network data size ： bandwidth , transmission efficiency

Although for a single user , The data transmission is very small , However, the server side has to bear many high concurrent data transmission （ In particular, the current high concurrency 、 Large number of users IM Chat application and real-time push server ）, It must be taken into account that data takes up bandwidth , Try not to have redundant data , In this way, the bandwidth can be reduced , Use less resources , Less network IO, Improve transmission efficiency .

[2] Network data security ： Network security of sensitive data

Some data transmission of related services are sensitive data , Therefore, we must consider encrypting part of the transmitted data . This usually occurs in application industries and scenarios with high data security requirements, such as banks , Of course, traditional instant messaging applications are based on user privacy considerations , Data encryption is also a problem that must be considered . Security is the basic condition of application , The requirements are the same , Just the encryption level 、 The security level requirements are different .

[3] Coding complexity

Encoding complexity includes serialization and deserialization complexity 、 efficiency 、 Scalability and maintainability of data structure .

For the code implementation of platform related services, the complexity of data processing and the scalability of data structure of the data sender and data receiver should also be considered , Maintainability , Labor costs and implementation complexity must also be taken into account . Usually , Instant messaging applications （ such as IM Chat app ） In the early stage of development , For the convenience of debugging , Many teams use simple text protocols 、JSON And so on , But after the post production deployment , For the sake of flow, etc , May switch to Protobuf And other agreements that save more traffic . But all in all , The definition of an agreement cannot remain unchanged forever , But if you have these foresight when you implement it , Consistency will greatly reduce future operational risks .

[4] The generality of the agreement 、 Public norms

The data type must be cross platform , The data format is universal , It is generally acceptable for people to get started . Of course , Now we have entered the era of mobile Internet , Multi terminal 、 Multi platform 、 Data communication on heterogeneous platforms is a prerequisite , And the choice of agreement , The commonality is only different from the application layer at most . Of course , in any case , Consistency of heterogeneous platforms , Is an indisputable prerequisite .

Different kinds of data transmission protocols （ Format ） Comparison

[1] Custom binary

advantage ： Small volume of information , Corresponding to the above ”1“
shortcoming ： High coding complexity （ Define the message format by yourself , Write your own serialization and deserialization methods , Handle fault tolerance by yourself , Poor scalability , For example, add a field , We must change the logical processing at both ends ）, Corresponding to the above ”3“;

[2] An open source protocol that provides serialization and deserialization libraries

such as Google's protocol buffers, json, Thrift
advantage ： Is a popular universal data format , Expansion is quite convenient , Serialization and deserialization are quite convenient （ There are corresponding libraries ）, Error handling is convenient （ Library support ）.

[3] Textual agreement

such as xml,json
advantage ： serialize , Deserialization is easy （ Library support ）, Debug is convenient , Strong visualization ;
shortcoming ： Compared with binary storage, it occupies a large volume .

Which format would you choose ？

I will choose JSON（PS: In this paper, the “ I ” Refers to the original author ）, Because he is “ The open source protocol that provides serialization and deserialization libraries is also a textual protocol ”, Here's why ：

The complexity of custom binary formats ：
Customize the binary format for transmission , The whole process is defining the message ,write,read The process is too complicated , It's easy to make mistakes , For many data interaction programs , Will spend a lot of time on it ;
Extensibility of custom binary format ：
Not easy to expand , but json It can solve this problem well ;
json Comparing the amount of binary data is not a problem ：
json It takes up a little more space , But we can solve this problem through network data compression , Besides, json It is also lightweight , Transmission efficiency is also very high ;
Go and see 《unix Programming art 》 Well ：
《 The first 5 Chapter -- Textualization , Good agreement leads to good practice 》、《 The first 6 Chapter -- transparency ： A little light 》 Will tell you the benefits of using textual protocols .

Conclusion

After reading the text , The original author chooses JSON As a data transmission format for instant messaging applications （ agreement ）, How to choose , I believe you have already found the answer .（ I recommend reading another article 《 Mobile IM The technical problems that development needs to face 》）

Classification of relevant technical data

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（ This article is published synchronously in ：http://www.52im.net/thread-276-1-1.html）

author ：Jack Jiang ( Click the author name to enter Github)
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