This extension adds the possibility from within WarpScript to serialize and deserialize data using the Protocol Buffers format.
The traditional workflow when working with Procotol Buffers is to generate code for your target language using a .proto file as input. Then within your application the generated structure can be manipulated and a set of utility classes can be used to perform serialization and deserialization.
The approach adopted in WarpScript is similar except the code generation step has been removed. Instead the function PROTOC can be used to generate an internal WarpScript structure that can be fed as input to serialization (->PB) and deserialization (PB->) functions. This approach renders the use of Protocol Buffers completely dynamic, enabling runtime generation of serialization/deserialization templates.
To the best of our knowledge this is the first attempt at a fully dynamic use of Protocol Buffers in any data environment. No doubt this feature will have many fans!