When developing applications and services, Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) are rising in popularity.
And that's no surprise! RPCs seamlessly handle the complexity of connecting large-scale projects.
A key type is tRPC (TypeScript Remote Procedure Call), used when working with JavaScript frameworks like React or Angular.
What is tRPC? What is the difference between tRPC and other methods? Let's find out!
What is a Remote Procedure Call (RPC)?
A Remote Procedure Call (RPC) is a communication protocol within networked systems.
These protocols executes code on a different server or system like it’s a local function or method call.
An RPC abstracts the complexities of network communications.
This logic makes it seem as it’s calling a function in the same program rather than being executed on a remote server.
As a result, RPCs are commonly used in distributed computing environments.
Its use is key for seamless interactions between systems in a network.
What's more, it avoids managing details like message passing, socket handling, or transport protocols.
What is a TypeScript Remote Procedure Call (tRPC)?
As mentioned, a TypeScript Remote Procedure Call (tRPC) is a protocol to communicate different programs over a network.
A tRPC is a type-safe implementation of the RPC protocol, ensuring the correct transmission of data.
This model is particularly useful for large-scale solutions in which elements need to communicate over a network.
How does tRPC Work?
tRPC is a type-safe API call approach that simplifies client-server communication by easing remote procedure calls.
It's particularly useful in distributed systems with components on different devices.
That's because it allows them to communicate without having to worry about the underlying network.
This RPC also enables devs to define their APIs with TypeScript interfaces.
The framework generates the tRPC client-to-server code to handle remote procedure calls.
As a result, teams can focus on business logic rather than worrying about the details of networking and serialization.
Moreover, tRPC supports a wide range of transport protocols, including HTTP, WebSockets and Server-Sent Events.
It also includes built-in support for authentication and authorization, making it easy to secure your application.
5 Key tRPC Features
- Type Safety. You can define APIs using TS interfaces, ensuring static typing and catching errors at compile time.
- Automatic Serialization: tRPC API serializing and deserializing is automatic, easing data sending and receiving.
- Authentication/Authorization: tRPC includes built-in support for authentication and authorization to secure APIs.
- Flexible Transport. tRPC supports a range of transport options, like HTTP and WebSockets.
- Real-time Updates. With WebSockets, you can easily add API real-time updates.
tRPC vs GraphQL
When developing modern digital solutions, choosing the right tools and techs is crucial.
Within RPCs, this efficiency mostly refers to communications between the tRPC client code and the server.
Yet, tRPC is not the only procedure that allows these interactions— GraphQL has also become widely used!
As mentioned, tRPC is a TypeScript-based Remote Procedure Call framework that simplifies API building.
With automatic type generation and validation, tRPC makes writing server-side code a breeze.
Its small footprint also makes it a great choice for microservices architecture.
On the other hand, GraphQL is a query language for APIs to ask for exactly what they need and nothing more.
GraphQL has a strongly typed schema and allows data fetching with multiple resources in a single request.
Both API methods, tRPC and GraphQL, differ in their dev process.
while tRPC focuses on simplifying the server-side code, GraphQL prioritizes client-side efficiency and flexibility.
Regarding performance, tRPC edges out GraphQL with a smaller overhead and faster serialization times.
However, GraphQL offers better caching and can reduce the number of network requests needed to fetch data.
The choice for your Remote Procedure Call management will depend on your project’s priorities and requirements.
Why is tRPC Important?
tRPC simplifies the process of building APIs without using code generation, reducing boilerplate code and enhancing productivity.
It also defines API's methods, inputs and outputs to catch errors early and add a built-in security layer.
It also allows to build scalable APIs by handling requests asynchronously for seamless integrations with minimal configuration.
Since it's JS-oriented, it works wonders with several well-known front-end libraries and frameworks.
Nonetheless, there is also tRPC for other dynamic languages, like Python and C++.
Conclusion
TypeScript Remote Procedure Calls are great to improve developer experiences!
Its strong typing, load balancing and auto-completion features can make it a great choice.
Is your project demanding high-performance and low-latency communications. We can help!
Get in touch with Capicua and make the most of your solutions!
