I like the problems that Protobuf solves, just not the way it solves them. Protobuf as a language feels clunky. The “type before identifier” syntax looks ancie

I like the problems that Protobuf solves, just not the way it solves them. Protobuf as a language feels clunky. The “type before identifier” syntax looks ancient and Java-esque. The tools are clunky too. protoc is full of gotchas, and for something as simple as validation, you need to add a zillion plugins and memorize their invocation flags. From tooling to workflow to generated code, it’s full of Google-isms and can be awkward to use at times. That said, the serialization format is solid, and the backward-compatibility paradigms are genuinely useful. Buf adds some niceties to the tooling and makes it more tolerable. There’s nothing else that solves all the problems Protobuf solves.