Programming language–specific encodings are restricted to a single programming language and often fail to provide forward and backward compatibility. Textual formats like JSON, XML, and CSV are widespread, and their compatibility depends on how you use them. They have optional schema languages, which are sometimes helpful and sometimes a hindrance. These formats are somewhat vague about datatypes, so you have to be careful with things like numbers and binary strings. Binary schema–driven formats like Thrift, Protocol Buffers, and Avro allow compact, efficient encoding with clearly defined
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