Serialization

Serialization is the process of converting complex data structures, such as objects and their fields, into a "flatter" format that can be sent and received as a sequential stream of bytes. Serializing data makes it much simpler to:

• Write complex data to inter-process memory, a file, or a database
• Send complex data, for example, over a network, between different components of an application, or in an [[APIs|API]] call

Crucially, when serializing an object, its state is also persisted. In other words, the object's attributes are preserved, along with their assigned values.