Architecture

OpenFAST uses a generic message object model combined with a generic template model.  Each piece of the template model is a part of the decoder/encoder.  By defining a template, the corresponding decoder and encoder are built-in to the template definition.

Pros

• No recompilation or code-generation is needed as templates change
• New templates can be loaded on the fly
• Dynamic template exchange is simple and relatively straight forward
• Getting up and running with OpenFAST is much easier and faster than code generated solutions
• More flexible and easier to change than hard-coded template encoder/decoder implementations

Cons 

• Memory consumption is high due to the fact that all data is stored as objects in the generic object model
• Performance is lower than FAST implementations using code generation