Un/serialize functions?

[Steve Holden]

"Grant Edwards" <grante at visi.com> wrote ...
> In article <c73a070e.0208052111.798f21d5 at posting.google.com>, d2002xx
wrote:
>
> > Is it possible to serialize a complete function/method, and
> > unserialize without involving its source file?
>
> I've always been curious why converting a data structure into a
> system-independent representation is called "serializing". I've
> looked around on Google and haven't really found anything.
> Anybody know the etymology of "serializing" a data structure?
>

I've always assumed, without any especial justification, that it referred to
transforming an object so it could be transmitted and/or stored as a
bytestream, on which random access was not necessarily available. Clearly it
should be possible to reconstruct the original object (or a copy thereof,
depending on semantics) from the serialized form.

regards
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Steve Holden                                 http://www.holdenweb.com/
Python Web Programming                http://pydish.holdenweb.com/pwp/
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