The power of ASN.1 in the 21st century - Insights

Insight 1: ASN.1 is everywhere

You can't live a day without using ASN.1. When you use your cellular phone, manage your network, shop online, receive your FedEx package, send secure emails, place an 800-number call, access your personal health records, or receive electricity from a wind turbine or standby generator, ASN.1 is being used. And each day, from 5G/LTE, intelligent transportation, advanced online gaming, electrical smart grid, nuclear instrumentation, financial transactions and many other emerging arenas, ASN.1 continues to be chosen as the foundation technology.

Insight 2: ASN.1 is a great schema for XML and JSON

ASN.1 defines the JSON Encoding Rules (JER) and the XML Encoding Rules (XER), which makes it possible to validate, serialize, and deserialize JSON and XML messages. Compared to alternative schemas for JSON or XML, ASN.1 is smaller and much more human-readable, making it easier to design and maintain schemas for non-trivial protocols. With ASN.1 you can use a single schema for XML, JSON, and binary!

Insight 3: The ASN.1 Tools are abundant and readily available

There are many ASN.1 development tools available today. Tools are available both from the free open source community and from commercial enterprise developers. Whatever your need or budget, there is an ASN.1 software package that can meet your goals. Still not convinced? Visit the Tools page to learn more about what tools are available.

Insight 4: ASN.1 is human friendly

There are many tools available to view and edit your ASN.1 schemas, including popular IDEs and editors. Furthermore, you can visualize binary encodings in JSON or XML for debugging purposes.

Insight 5: ASN.1 is easy to learn and easy to write

Well-designed tools make working with ASN.1 simple and efficient. You can use graphical tools such as ASN.1 Studio by OSS Nokalva to effortlessly create or modify ASN.1 definitions and encodings without having to write a single line of code. Also, you can try ASN1Vsx, a Visual Studio extension for ASN.1 schema editing.

Insight 6: ASN.1 is a workhorse of the 21st century

ASN.1 is like the cement in a concrete road, a crucial component that is not obvious to the riders. It works so well and seamlessly with different platforms and programming languages, you don't even know it is there. Still want more? See Insight 1.