In
computer science, in the context of data storage,
serialization is the process of translating
data structures or
object state into a format that can be stored (for example, in a
file or memory
buffer, or transmitted across a
network connection link) and reconstructed later in the same or another computer environment. When the resulting series of bits is reread according to the serialization format, it can be used to create a semantically identical clone of the original object. For many complex objects, such as those that make extensive use of
references, this process is not straightforward. Serialization of object-oriented
objects does not include any of their associated
methods with which they were previously inextricably linked.