Serialization

Serialization is the process of converting an object or data structure into a format that can be stored, transmitted, or reconstructed later. This typically involves transforming data into a byte stream, JSON, XML, or other standardized formats. Deserialization is the reverse process, reconstructing the original object from the serialized data.

Also known as: Marshalling, Pickling, Encoding, Flattening, Object serialization

Why learn Serialization?

Developers should learn serialization for scenarios like data persistence (saving to files or databases), network communication (sending data over APIs or between services), and caching (storing objects in memory or distributed systems). It's essential in distributed systems, microservices architectures, and any application requiring data exchange between different components or languages.

Learning Resources

• docs: MDN Web Docs: JSON
• tutorial: Oracle Java Tutorials: Serialization
• docs: Protocol Buffers Documentation
• video: YouTube: Serialization Explained
• book: Book: 'Effective Java' by Joshua Bloch (Chapter on Serialization)