Object serialization

From Thinking in Java.

Java's object serialization allows you to take any object that implements the Serializable interface and turn it into a sequence of bytes that can later be fully restored to regenerate the original object. This is even true across a network, which means that the serialization mechanism automatically compensates for differences in operating systems. That is, you can create an object on a Windows machine, serialize it, and send it across the network to a Unix machine, where it will be correctly reconstructed. You don’t have to worry about the data representations on the different machines, the byte ordering, or any other details.

An example

package worm;

import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;

class Data implements Serializable {
  private int n;
  public Data(int n) { this.n = n; }
  @Override public String toString() { return Integer.toString(n); }
}

public class Worm implements Serializable {
  private static Random rand = new Random();
  private Data[] d = {
    new Data(rand.nextInt(10)),
    new Data(rand.nextInt(10)),
    new Data(rand.nextInt(10))
  };
  
  private Worm next;
  private char c;
  
  public Worm(int i, char x) {
    System.out.println("Worm constructor:" + i);
    c = x;
    if(--i > 0)
    {
      next = new Worm(i, (char)(x + 1));
    }
  }
  public Worm() {
      System.out.println("Default constructor");
  }
  @Override public String toString() {
    StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder(":");
    result.append(c);
    result.append("(");
    for(Data dat : d)
    {
      result.append(dat);
    }
    result.append(")");
    if(next != null)
    {
      result.append(next);
    }
    return result.toString();
  }
  
  public static void main(String[] args)
         throws ClassNotFoundException, IOException {
    Worm w = new Worm(6, 'a');
    System.out.println("w = " + w);
    ObjectOutputStream out = new ObjectOutputStream(
      new FileOutputStream("worm.out"));
    out.writeObject("Worm storage\n");
    out.writeObject(w);
    out.close(); // Also flushes output
    
    ObjectInputStream in = new ObjectInputStream(
      new FileInputStream("worm.out"));
    String s = (String)in.readObject();
    Worm w2 = (Worm)in.readObject();
    System.out.println(s + "w2 = " + w2);
    
    ByteArrayOutputStream bout =
      new ByteArrayOutputStream();
    ObjectOutputStream out2 = new ObjectOutputStream(bout);
    out2.writeObject("Worm storage\n");
    out2.writeObject(w);
    out2.flush();
    
    ObjectInputStream in2 = new ObjectInputStream(
      new ByteArrayInputStream(bout.toByteArray()));
    s = (String)in2.readObject();
    Worm w3 = (Worm)in2.readObject();
    System.out.println(s + "w3 = " + w3);
  }
}