Object Serialization

Object serialization is the process of converting an object's state (including its data and structure) into a format that can be stored (e.g., in a file or database) or transmitted (e.g., over a network) and later reconstructed. This typically involves transforming the object into a byte stream, JSON, XML, or other serialized formats. Deserialization is the reverse process, where the serialized data is used to recreate the object in memory.

Also known as: Serialization, Marshalling, Pickling, Encoding, Object persistence

Why learn Object Serialization?

Developers should learn object serialization for scenarios like data persistence (saving application state to files or databases), network communication (sending objects between distributed systems via APIs or RPC), and caching (storing objects in memory caches like Redis). It is essential in web development for handling JSON/XML in REST APIs, in game development for saving progress, and in microservices architectures for inter-service data exchange.

Learning Resources

• docs: MDN Web Docs: JSON
• tutorial: Oracle Java Tutorials: Object Serialization
• docs: Microsoft Docs: Serialization in .NET
• video: YouTube: Object Serialization Explained
• tutorial: Real Python: Python Pickle Module