Talking to Hardware:
A Practical Introduction to gRPC

October 1 | 1 pm EST

Almost every device-based product eventually needs software components running on different platforms, operating systems, or programming languages to communicate reliably. Too often, that communication relies on custom protocols that become difficult to maintain as implementations evolve. gRPC replaces those fragile integrations with a shared contract. Using a single .proto definition, developers can generate client and server code in C#, C++, Python, Go, Java, and more, enabling strongly typed remote procedure calls, efficient binary serialization, streaming, and built-in support for features such as deadlines, cancellation, status codes, metadata, and TLS.

In this session, we'll explore how gRPC works from the perspective of software architects and engineers building device-connected systems. We'll cover Protocol Buffers, service definition, code generation, contract versioning, and deployment across independently released components. A live Visual Studio demo will show a C# desktop application communicating with a hardware abstraction layer generated from the same .proto file. We'll execute commands, stream live telemetry, and examine error handling, timeouts, and cancellation. We'll conclude by regenerating the server in Python to demonstrate how a single contract enables cross-language interoperability without changing the client.

Whether you're building desktop applications, embedded systems, laboratory instruments, or connected devices, gRPC can dramatically simplify communication between components while improving reliability and maintainability. Join us to see the complete development workflow in action and learn how a single contract can eliminate entire classes of integration problems. Register today to gain practical, real-world guidance you can immediately apply to your next project.