Author: Melvin Carvalho 2012-12-17 11:23:37
Published on: 2012-12-17T11:23:37+00:00
In an email exchange from December 17, 2012, Mike Hearn expressed his preference for using binary over text format in the Bitcoin protocol, citing several problems with text and stating that there were no compelling arguments to use it. Another participant in the conversation, who had read up on Protocol Buffers, acknowledged the advantages of binary format in terms of quick messaging and low bandwidth but also noted its lack of self-description making it difficult to convert between formats. This person argued for interoperability in growing the Bitcoin ecosystem and suggested a self-describing JSON format as a more likely option for this. They proposed making it mandatory for the binary format to have a translation script to a self-describing JSON format and back again to ensure compatibility and interoperation with other systems.
Updated on: 2023-06-06T08:51:28.293401+00:00