You need to specify the numbers so that if you later remove a field or rearrange the fields in the file, the numbers stay the same. Protobufs put a lot of effort into maintaining wire format compatibility as code changes.
Daniel On Jul 9, 2010 8:25 AM, "Meel" <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi, > > I am new to Protocol Buffers. I have been reading about it, and it > seems like the solution that I have long been looking for. Thanks guys > for making this an open source project! It all seems to make a lot of > sense, but one thing puzzles me: the explicit specification of field > numbers. Is it really required to specify the field numbers, or can > they be optional? In every example I looked at, they just go > sequentially 1,2,3,etc., so can they just be implicit? > > Thanks, > > Meel > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Protocol Buffers" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]<protobuf%[email protected]> . > For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/protobuf?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Protocol Buffers" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/protobuf?hl=en.
