Technology · Ebook

gRPC: High-Performance RPC

by Shriira Press

gRPC is a high-performance, open-source, universal RPC framework that makes calling a method on a remote service as simple as a local function call — efficiently and across languages. This free book teaches it from the ground up: the service-communication problem and what gRPC is, RPC and the landscape (gRPC vs REST), Protocol Buffers (the IDL and binary serialization), defining services (.proto contracts), HTTP/2 (the transport), the four RPC types and streaming (unary, server, client, bidirectional), building clients and servers (code generation, cross-language), errors/deadlines/metadata (robust communication), security/interceptors/advanced features (TLS, mTLS, middleware, load balancing), and gRPC in practice (when to use it, gRPC-Web, the ecosystem). Ten focused chapters with clear diagrams that demystify modern, efficient, strongly-typed, cross-language service communication — define a contract, generate code, and call remote methods like local ones.

Contents

1. 1Preface
2. 2Chapter 1 — What gRPC Is
3. 3Chapter 2 — RPC and the Communication Landscape
4. 4Chapter 3 — Protocol Buffers
5. 5Chapter 4 — Defining Services
6. 6Chapter 5 — HTTP/2: The Transport
7. 7Chapter 6 — The Four RPC Types and Streaming
8. 8Chapter 7 — Building Clients and Servers
9. 9Chapter 8 — Errors, Deadlines, and Metadata
10. 10Chapter 9 — Security, Interceptors, and Advanced Features
11. 11Chapter 10 — gRPC in Practice