Naming: generating a proto service should generate an interface ending in "Service" not "Server" about grpc-go

[dsymonds]

In this sense, a "server" is something that implements a "service" or a "server interface". It's a little unfortunate that the grpc.Server type has the same name, but it's not a big deal once you get used to it.

[acasajus]

Now that is alpha It could be fixed to keep consistency with the rest of the language implementations :)

[GeertJohan]

I agree with @dsymonds that "Server" could be a good name for something that implements the server side of a service. But the name is indeed confusing with grpc.Server.
The grpc.Server can serve multiple server's that implement the service's server interface.. 😜

So how about adopting a new word? For instance Handler?

A Handler interface describes a Service and is implemented by the user.
e.g.:

// Generated from the proto service definition
type FoobarHandler interface {
    Foobar(int) (int, error) // rpc method
    OtherThing(int
}

// Registration linker
RegisterFoobarHandler(*grpc.Server, FoobarHandler)

Now the grpc.Server can serve multiple Handlers which implement the service's Handler interface.

The name Handler is already being used by grpc, but afaik mostly internally.
For instance, this is generated code:

var _Foobar_serviceDesc = grpc.ServiceDesc{
    ServiceName: "foobar.Foobar",
    HandlerType: (*FoobarServer)(nil),
    Methods: []grpc.MethodDesc{
        {
            MethodName: "Info",
            Handler:    _Foobar_Info_Handler,
        },
    },
    Streams: []grpc.StreamDesc{
        {
            StreamName:    "Subscribe",
            Handler:       _Foobar_Subscribe_Handler,
            ServerStreams: true,
        },
    },
}

We can see Handler is already being used as a field to link service methods, but it also refers to the Server itself (HandlerType).

I don't think that the ServiceDesc, MethodDesc and StreamDesc's are to be modified by the user, so the Handler word might be a good option here.

[acasajus]

I'd prefer Service because it describes a Service instead of: A Handler interface describes a Service and is implemented by the user.

But I'm ok which Handler since it's different from Server as you say.

[iamqizhao]

I do not like Handler since it is already used in grpc meaning different thing. I like "Service" and am also okay with "Server". I leave the decision to @dsymonds who is the owner of grpc codegen and protobuf in Go.

[dsymonds]

I've thought about it, and I think the current state is fine. Let's close this and move onto more important issues.

[GeertJohan]

👍