Comparison Matrix
Legend:
- 🟢 Available (grading added in some cases spanning: Bad, Average, Good, Excellent)
- 🟡 In development
- 🔵 Potential future feature
- 🔴 Not currently available
- ❔ Not clear
| Feature | Proto Buffers | ADL | JSON Schema | Lambda Buffers | CDDL | ASN.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sum types | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🔴 | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🟢 |
| Record types | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🟢 |
| Product types | 🔴 | 🔴 | 🔴 | 🟢 | ❔ | 🔴 |
| Recursive types | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🔴 | 🟢 | 🟢 | ❔ |
| Parameterized types (generic types) | 🔴 | 🟢 | 🔴 | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🔴 |
| Type annotations/constraints | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🔵 | 🟢 | 🟢 |
| Add new builtin types | 🔴 | 🟢 | 🔴 | 🟢 | 🔴 | 🔴 |
| Add new type semantics (e.g. different encodings) | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🔴 | 🟢 | 🔴 | 🟢 |
| Manage type semantics (at language level) | 🔴 | 🔴 | 🔴 | 🟢 | 🔴 | 🔴 |
| Codegen support | 🟢 (Excellent) | 🟢 (Average) | 🟢 (Excellent) | 🟡 | 🟢 (Bad) | 🟢 (Average) |
| DevOps tooling - build system integration | 🟢 | 🔴 | ❔ | 🟡 | 🔴 | 🔴 |
| Documentation tooling | 🟢 | 🔴 | 🟢 | 🔵 | 🔴 | ❔ |
| Formatting, linting, and development environment tools | 🟢 | 🔴 | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🔴 | 🔴 |
| Language checker API | 🟢 | 🔴 | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🔴 | 🔴 |
| Codegen API | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🔴 | 🟢 | 🔴 | 🔴 |
| Language specification | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🟢 |
| Backwards compatibility strategy | 🟢 | 🔴 | 🔴 | 🔴 | 🔴 | 🔴 |
Descriptions
Sum Types
Types of the form Time = Present | Past | Future, which allow a type do be
constructed by one of many variants. Think Rust's enums.
Product Types
Types of the form Person = MkPerson Age Name, where MkPerson is of Kind
Type->Type->Type. Product types combine multiple elements into one data type
without tagging the elements.
Record Types
Types of the form Person = MkPerson { age :: Age, name :: Name }. Record types
are similar to structs in most programming languages.
Recursive Types
Recursive types are defined by the presence of the LHS type in its RHS definition. A classic example is:
List a = Nil | Cons a (List a)
^^^^^^ ^^^^^^
Parameterized Types (Generics)
Type functions allow for the introduction of type variables in the LHS definition
of the term - creating a parametrised type definition. The classic example is
Maybe a which is the equivalento of Option <A> in rust:
Maybe a = Nothing | Just a
Using the above type definition we can now define another type that uses Maybe
and instantiates it to use Integer
Time_Saved_via_LambdaBuffers = Maybe Integer
Type Annotations / Constraints
There exists a system of constraining or further annotating types - enriching the type's specification.
Add New Built-in Types
Refer to design document.
Add New Type Semantics
Refer to the design document.
Manage Type Semantics (at Language Level)
Refer to the design document..
Codegen Support
Codegen support relates to the language being able to generate types for other programming languages.
DevOps Tooling - Build System Integration
The framework/language provides a seamless way of integrating with normal build tools and systems (eg. Bazel, Nix, etc.).
Documentation Tooling
The language can generate human readable documentation in an easy to share and view format. For example HTML, or Markdown.
Formatting, Linting, and Development Environment Tools
Tools that allow formatting, linting, and automating standardisation of the language specific files.
Language Checker API
The language checker component exposes an API to interface with itself in a language agnostic manner.
Codegen API
The language codegen component exposes an API to interface with itself in a language agnostic manner.
Language Specification
There exists a well defined language specification document.
Backwards Compatibility Strategy
The language makes certain backwards compatibility guarantees between versions of the same type definition.
References
- https://json-schema.org/implementations.html
- https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8610
- https://github.com/timbod7/adl
- https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/asn1/Pages/introduction.aspx
- https://protobuf.dev/
- https://github.com/dcSpark/cddl-codegen