# Serialization

* In serialization, objects and data structures residing in memory are transformed to stream of bits, so that they can be written to disk (for example) or sent over network
* Basically, serialize function transforms data structure to string, which can be then sent to the recipient
* Recipient can then deserialize the string back to data structure
* Examples of serialization formats
  * JSON
  * YAML
  * XML

## Libraries

### Python

* pickle
  * saves data as byte stream

## References

* [Serialization - A Crash Course (Youtube)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS37TujnLRw)
* [A Gentle Introduction to Serialization for Python (https://machinelearningmastery.com/)](https://machinelearningmastery.com/a-gentle-introduction-to-serialization-for-python/)