nanopb/nanopb

Features

• Embedded Serialization Utilities - Provides a serialization library optimized for memory-constrained microcontrollers without dynamic memory allocation.
• Static Memory Allocations - Uses fixed maximum sizes for strings and arrays to ensure static memory allocation on resource-constrained systems.
• Protocol Buffer Implementations - Provides a full implementation of Protocol Buffers specifically optimized for microcontrollers and memory-restricted systems.
• Data Encoding and Serialization - Implements binary serialization for converting structured data into portable formats for storage or transmission.
• Incremental Data Streaming - Processes data structures that exceed available system memory via incremental, function-based callbacks.
• Large Dataset Streaming - Handles data structures that exceed available system RAM through incremental streaming and callback mechanisms.
• Streaming Parsers - Provides incremental data processing using event-driven callbacks to handle messages that exceed available RAM.
• Schema-Driven Code Generators - Translates schema definition files into type-safe C source and header files.
• Binary Data Encoding - Serializes data structures into a compact binary format to minimize overhead on embedded systems.
• Callback-Based Data Streaming - Handles binary data streams larger than physical RAM by employing a callback-based streaming mechanism.
• Serialization Callbacks - Implements a callback mechanism to process fields of unlimited size without exhausting system memory.
• Message Encoders and Decoders - Decodes complex binary streams containing nested elements, optional fields, and packed arrays.
• Binary Format Decoders - Parses binary data streams into structured C data objects based on protobuf specifications.
• Low-Memory Serialization - Encodes and decodes structured data into binary formats without using dynamic memory allocation to prevent heap fragmentation.
• C Source Generators - Converts definition files into C source and header files for native compilation on microcontrollers.
• Native Header Generators - Generates C header files to enable typed message handling in resource-constrained embedded projects.
• C Code Generators - Translates Protocol Buffer definition files into compact C source and header files for embedded firmware.
• Static Allocation Strategies - Implements strategies to pre-calculate memory requirements at compile time to avoid heap usage on embedded hardware.
• Input Bounds Enforcement - Enforces strict bounds on reads and writes to ensure memory safety when parsing untrusted binary input.
• Callback-Based Serialization - Uses callback functions to process large or dynamic data fields during encoding and decoding without buffering.
• Stream Abstractions - Decouples serialization logic from hardware transports using a lightweight stream-abstracted reader and writer interface.
• Binary Size Calculation - Calculates the total byte count required to serialize a message before performing the encoding.
• Variable Data Callbacks - Executes user-defined functions during encoding and decoding to handle fields of unlimited or variable size.
• Length-Delimited Message Framing - Prefixes message data with length indicators to facilitate parsing of variable-length segments over serial streams.
• Submessage Presence Flags - Maintains explicit flags for nested messages to distinguish between empty data and missing fields.
• Networking & Communication - Facilitates structured message exchange over serial or network streams between resource-constrained devices and other systems.
• Field Processing - Invokes callback functions during processing to handle arrays or strings of unlimited length without exhausting RAM.
• Binary Field Layout Optimizations - Controls the memory footprint of arrays and enums by specifying integer sizes and bit-widths during generation.
• Generation Options - Allows specification of field types, packing options, and maximum sizes to control how definitions are converted into code.
• Field Limit Configurations - Defines maximum field sizes via configuration files to allocate memory statically for restricted environments.
• Safe Binary Parsing - Enforces strict bounds on reads and writes to ensure memory safety when decoding potentially malicious binary input.
• Transport Abstractions - Decouples encoding and decoding logic from specific hardware transports through lightweight interface structures.
• Message Descriptor Reflection - Provides reflection utilities for iterating over message fields using metadata descriptors.
• Message Field Iterators - Enables traversal of message fields using descriptors to inspect or process metadata and values generically.
• Communication Protocols - Small-footprint Protocol Buffers implementation in ANSI C.
• Serialization - Small-footprint Protocol Buffers implementation for C.
• Developer Tools and Utilities - Protocol Buffers implementation for embedded systems.

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