Explore the key differences between gRPC and REST APIs for mobile app development, covering performance, protocol choices, message formats, scalability, and security. Assess your understanding of mobile backend communication through practical scenarios and fundamental concepts.
Which protocol does gRPC primarily use for communication between clients and servers in mobile app projects?
Explanation: gRPC mainly uses HTTP/2, which enables features like multiplexed streams and efficient data transfer. SOAP is a protocol commonly used in older web services but not related to gRPC. HTTP/1.1 is used predominantly by REST APIs. SMTP is an email protocol, not relevant for mobile app API communication.
What message format does gRPC use by default to serialize data exchanged between mobile apps and servers?
Explanation: Protocol Buffers, or Protobuf, is the default serialization mechanism for gRPC, offering efficient data transfer. XML and JSON are text-based formats more commonly used in REST APIs; JSON in particular is REST's standard. YAML is rarely used for API payloads and not supported by gRPC by default.
In real-time messaging scenarios for mobile apps, which technology natively supports bidirectional streaming between client and server?
Explanation: gRPC natively supports bidirectional streaming, allowing both client and server to send multiple messages over a single connection. REST is typically request-response and doesn't provide true streaming without workarounds. FTP and POP3 are file transfer and email retrieval protocols, not designed for API communication or streaming.
Which technology is generally easier for developers to debug due to its use of human-readable payload formats?
Explanation: REST typically uses JSON, which is human-readable and can be easily understood and debugged. gRPC utilizes Protocol Buffers, which are binary and not directly human-readable. ICMP is a network control protocol, and FTP deals with file transfer, making them irrelevant in this context.
When developing mobile apps that operate over unreliable or slow networks, which feature of gRPC can offer improved efficiency?
Explanation: gRPC uses binary serialization through Protocol Buffers, resulting in smaller, more efficient messages suitable for limited network conditions. Larger XML messages are associated with less efficient protocols. A resource-intensive handshake and text-based SOAP envelopes both add overhead and can degrade network efficiency.
How does gRPC's use of Protocol Buffers benefit schema evolution for mobile app APIs?
Explanation: Protocol Buffers are designed to be forward and backward compatible, meaning updated APIs can handle messages from older clients and vice versa. gRPC does not force breaking changes unless fields are incorrectly removed. XML schemas are not used in gRPC, and Protocol Buffers do allow optional fields, contrary to the last option.
Which security feature is natively supported by both gRPC and REST for securing mobile app communications over the internet?
Explanation: TLS encryption can be implemented with both gRPC and REST to secure data in transit. Neither relies solely on obfuscation nor transmits data as plain UDP packets. While encryption isn't always on by default, best practices recommend enabling TLS for both technologies.
How are service interfaces typically defined in gRPC for use in mobile applications?
Explanation: gRPC APIs are described using .proto files, which define service methods and message structures. HTML templates serve web pages, not APIs. INI files are for configuration, not interface definition. JSON schemas might be used with REST but not with gRPC.
Which approach enforces stateless communication by default, making each client request independent in mobile app-backend interactions?
Explanation: REST enforces statelessness so each request contains all necessary information for the server to process it. gRPC may allow persistent connections and streaming, thus not enforcing statelessness by default. FTP and SMTP are unrelated to API request statelessness.
If you need your mobile app’s API to be easily consumable from web browsers without extra tools, which protocol is generally more compatible?
Explanation: REST APIs are widely supported by browsers using standard HTTP requests, making integration straightforward. gRPC isn’t natively supported in browsers without additional tools like special proxies. POP3 and NFS are unrelated protocols, not suitable for browser-based API access.