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Motivation & Design Philosophy of BytePack

The primary motivation behind BytePack is to address the need for a simple, easily understandable, and modifiable library in the realm of binary serialization. The existing libraries often presents complex codebases, which can be a barrier to customization and understanding. BytePack seeks to fill this gap by offering a solution that, while sufficiently feature-rich for immediate use, is also straightforward enough for developers to tailor extensively according to the specific demands of their projects.

BytePack is a C++ library crafted with a clear focus on simplicity and flexibility in binary serialization, primarily for network communication. This document outlines the guiding principles and philosophy behind the development and maintenance of BytePack.

Core Values

  • Flexibility: By not enforcing any specific standardization or versioning, BytePack grants users complete control over their data structures and protocols. This allows for seamless integration with existing systems and facilitates compliance with diverse industry-specific specifications, as is often the case in standards like IEEE 12207, Interface Control Documents (ICD), Interface Design Description (IDD)
  • Simplicity: The library aims to be easy to use, learn, and integrate into existing projects. This is achieved by keeping the API concise and focusing on essential features.
  • Performance: BytePack prioritizes efficient memory management and data serialization/deserialization processes, ensuring fast and reliable performance in various use cases.

Design Goals

  • Header-only library: Easy integration without the need for additional compilation steps or linking libraries.
  • No custom encoding: Avoids encoding schemes, facilitating interoperability and simplifying debugging of network packets.
  • No exceptions: Ensures predictable behavior and simplifies error handling.
  • No macros: Ensures cleaner and more maintainable code, avoiding preprocessor complexity.
  • Clean and concise codebase: Facilitates debugging and customization.
  • Cross-platform compatibility

Design Non-Goals!

  • Comprehensive all-in-one solution
    • BytePack is not intended to be a complete serialization solution for every use case.
    • Its focus is on simplicity and adaptability, allowing users to build upon it as needed.
  • Tied to a specific C++ version
    • While currently implemented in C++20, BytePack is open to incorporating new features from future C++ versions (like potential reflection in C++26) to further enhance its capabilities.

Contributions and Feedback

BytePack welcomes contributions and feedback from the community. Please read the Contribution Guideline.