from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
serialise
serialize
<programming> To represent an arbitrarily complex {data
structure} in a location-independent way so that it can be
communicated or stored elsewhere.
For example, an {object} representing a time, with
{attributes} for year, month, timezone, etc., could be
serialised as the {string} "2002-02-24T14:33:52-0800", or an
{XML} element "<dateobj year='2002' month='02' day='24'
hour='14' minute='33' second='52' timezone='-0800' />", or as
a {binary} string.
As well as providing an external data representation
(e.g. representing an {integer} as a string of {ASCII}
digits) and {marshalling} components into a single block of
data, a serialisation {algorithm} needs to follow {pointers}
to include objects referred to by the initial object. This is
further complicated by the possible presence of cycles in the
{object graph}.
It should be possible to store the serialised representation
on disk, or transmit it across a network, and then restore it
as an object (graph) that is the same as the original.
(2001-09-28)