Encodings

language-specific

eg. python pickle

restricted to one language and they have poor back/forward compatibility

text

eg. json, csv

More generic, better human-readable, better compatibility than the former

binary

eg. protobuf, thrift

more compact

need to be decoded to be human readable

Paths

1. via DBs
2. via services, eg. REST, RPC
3. via message passing, eg. brokers, actors

Unicode