Editing Serialization (section)

{{Short description|Conversion process for computer data}}
{{About|data structure encoding}}

{{External links|date=August 2024}}
[[File:Serialization.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Flow diagram]]
In computing, '''serialization''' (or '''serialisation''', also referred to as '''pickling''' in [[Python (programming language)|Python]]) is the process of translating a [[data structure]] or [[object (computer science)|object]] state into a format that can be stored (e.g. [[computer file|files]] in [[secondary storage devices]], [[data buffer]]s in primary storage devices) or transmitted (e.g. [[data stream]]s over [[computer networks]]) and reconstructed later (possibly in a different computer environment).<ref>{{ cite web
 | first        = Marshall | last = Cline
 | url          = http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/serialize-overview.html
 | title        = C++ FAQ: "What's This "Serialization" Thing All About?"
 | archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20150405013606/http://isocpp.org/wiki/faq/serialization
 | archive-date = 2015-04-05
 | quote = It lets you take an object or group of objects, put them on a disk or send them through a wire or wireless transport mechanism, then later, perhaps on another computer, reverse the process, resurrecting the original object(s). The basic mechanisms are to flatten object(s) into a one-dimensional stream of bits, and to turn that stream of bits back into the original object(s).}}</ref> 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 [[reference (computer science)|references]], this process is not straightforward. Serialization of [[object (computer science)|object]]s does not include any of their associated [[Method (computer science)|methods]] with which they were previously linked.

This process of serializing an object is also called [[Marshalling (computer science)|marshalling]] an object in some situations.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://docs.ruby-lang.org/en/master/Marshal.html|title=Module: Marshal (Ruby 3.0.2)|website=ruby-doc.org|access-date=25 July 2021}}</ref><ref name=ocaml>{{Cite web |title=Marshal |author= |website=OCaml |date= |access-date=25 July 2021 |url= https://ocaml.org/api/Marshal.html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://docs.python.org/3/library/pickle.html?highlight=marshalling#module-pickle|title=Python 3.9.6 documentation - Python object serialization —pickle|website=Documentation - The Python Standard Library }}</ref> The opposite operation, extracting a data structure from a series of bytes, is '''deserialization''', (also called '''unserialization''' or '''[[unmarshalling]]''').

In networking equipment hardware, the part that is responsible for serialization and deserialization is commonly called [[SerDes]].