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C# Streams and Data Processing

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Introduction to Serialization

2:02 with Carling Kirk

Get an overview of serialization.

[MUSIC] 0:00
In the previous set of videos, we read data from a CSV file and 0:04
created in memory objects with it. 0:09
In computer programming, the need to save or 0:11
load data that is stored somewhere is common. 0:14
When we save data from in memory objects 0:17
to another format that can be retrieved later that is called serialization. 0:20
Conversely, the process of loading serialized data is deserialization. 0:25
Technically when we read the soccer game result data from the CSV file, 0:31
we deserialized it into objects in our program. 0:35
Programmers usually wouldn't refer to that as serialization though 0:39
because we didn't use a serializer to process the data. 0:42
We wrote the processing logic ourselves. 0:46
A serializer is something that knows how to translate the objects 0:49
into a specific format. 0:52
Common formats we use in .NET for serialization our JSON and XML. 0:54
Both are considered to be human readable which means we can look at the files and 0:59
interpret the data without assistance. 1:04
In .NET there's also binary serialization, 1:07
which saves the data as bytes to a binary file. 1:10
If you tried to open up the file as text, it wouldn't be readable. 1:13
As we learn about serialization, we'll be using streams 1:17
to transport our data from the source format into our program. 1:21
In the videos that follow we'll be using JSON as our serialization format. 1:26
JSON is quickly becoming the preferred format for 1:31
serialization in .NET but you might also come across XML. 1:33
I've linked to some more resources for serializing to XML in the notes. 1:38
The concept is mostly the same. 1:43
You'll need a source stream, an XML serializer and an output stream. 1:44
JSON stands for JavaScript object notation and 1:50
is derived from the JavaScript language. 1:53
If you've used JavaScript before it will look really familiar. 1:55
If not, don't worry it's really easy to pick up. 1:59