serialize

2 definitions found

serialize - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  serialize
      v 1: arrange serially; "Serialize the numbers" [syn:
           serialize, serialise]

serialize - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  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)