Serialization Glossary

Browse 12 serialization terms defined in plain English, from the cultural dictionary of computing.

12 Serialization Terms

Avro
A row-based binary serialization format with schema evolution support. The schema is stored with the data (or in a schema registry), enabling readers to handle...
Binary Format
A file or wire format that stores information as structured bytes rather than text, often to improve size, speed, or strict parsing. Binary formats are common...
Byte Order
The order in which the bytes of a multi-byte value are stored or transmitted, commonly described as big-endian or little-endian. Byte order matters whenever...
Compact
Describing code, data, or output that takes relatively little space while still preserving the needed meaning or functionality. In engineering discussions,...
Custom Serializer
A serializer implemented to convert data into a specific wire format, storage format, or schema with rules beyond the defaults. Custom serializers are useful...
JavaBeans
A Java component convention for classes with a public no-argument constructor, private properties, and accessor methods following get/set naming rules. The...
Marshalling
The process of transforming in-memory objects into a format suitable for transmission across a network or process boundary — including serialization, type...
Message Format
The defined structure and encoding of data exchanged between systems, specifying field names, types, ordering, and serialization rules. Common message formats...
MessagePack
A binary serialization format that's like JSON but faster and more compact. Supports the same data types (maps, arrays, strings, numbers, booleans, null) but...
Object Graph
The directed graph formed by objects in memory and their references to one another, where nodes are object instances and edges are fields or properties...
Protocol Buffer
A language-neutral, binary serialization format developed by Google (commonly called protobuf) in which data structures are defined in .proto schema files and...
Protocol Buffers
A language-neutral, platform-neutral binary serialization format developed by Google. Protobuf schemas (.proto files) define message structures and generate...

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