1. A method for applying an update to a communication protocol in a software application executed by a computing device, the method comprising: storing a first machine-executable object parser configured to parse received data objects based on a communication protocol, wherein the first machine-executable object parser is associated with a first timestamp, and wherein the first machine-executable object parser is based on a first protocol definition, wherein the first protocol definition indicates positions of data elements within data objects corresponding to the communication protocol; executing, by the computer device, the software application including the first machine-executable object parser, wherein the first machine-executable object parser is loaded in active memory of the computing device and is in communication with the software application; receiving, by the computing device, a second protocol definition corresponding to the communication protocol, wherein the second protocol definition indicates positions of data elements within data objects corresponding to the communication protocol, and wherein the second protocol definition includes a second timestamp; determining, by the computing device, that the second protocol definition differs from the first protocol definition; determining that the second timestamp is newer than the first timestamp; upon determining that the second timestamp is newer than the first timestamp, automatically creating, by the computing device and without pausing execution of the software application, a second machine-executable object parser based on the second protocol definition; replacing the first machine-executable object parser in active memory with the second machine-executable object parser; receiving, by the software application, a data object corresponding to the communication protocol; and executing, by the computing device, the second machine-executable object parser to parse at least a portion of the data elements in the data object received by the software application and communicating the parsed data elements to the software application.
6. The method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the second machine-executable object parser is not created when the second protocol definition and the first protocol definition do not differ.