Tell about gRPC: why choose it, advantages, limitations.

gRPC is a modern framework for remote procedure calls (RPC), based on HTTP/2 and Protocol Buffers protocol.

Why choose gRPC:

• High performance due to binary data transfer format (Protocol Buffers) and efficient use of HTTP/2.
• Support for streaming data in both directions (client-server, server-client).
• Automatic generation of client and server libraries in various languages.
• Well-defined contracts (IDL) through .proto files.

Advantages:

• Lower latency and smaller data transfer volume compared to REST/JSON.
• Support for bidirectional data streams.
• Well-suited for microservices architecture.
• Built-in support for authentication, compression, and load balancing.

Limitations:

• Requires HTTP/2, which can be problematic in some network infrastructures.
• Less convenient for direct browser use (although solutions with gRPC-Web exist).
• More complex debugging due to binary format.
• Not always suitable for public APIs where REST is preferred.

Ultimately, gRPC is chosen when high performance, strict typing, and efficient service interaction are important, especially within microservices infrastructure.