Question

Why do we need to use serialization?

If we want to send an object or piece of data through a network we can use streams of bytes. If we want to save some data to the disk, we can again use the binary mode along with the byte streams and save it.

So what’s the advantage of using serialization?

Answer 1

Technically on the low-level, your serialized object will also end up as a stream of bytes on your cable or your filesystem…

So you can also think of it as a standardized and already available way of converting your objects to a stream of bytes. Storing/transferring object is a very common requirement, and it has less or little meaning to reinvent this wheel in every application.

As other have mentioned, you also know that this object->stream_of_bytes implementation is quite robust, tested, and generally architecture-independent.

This does not mean it is the only acceptable way to save or transfer an object: in some cases, you’ll have to implement your own methods, for example to avoid saving unnecessary/private members (for example for security or performance reasons). But if you are in a simple case, you can make your life easier by using the serialization/deserialization of your framework, language or VM instead of having to implement it by yourself.

Hope this helps.