The wonders of Java object serialization

With the release of Java 1.1, the Java community has gained access to a wide variety of features that were not available in Java 1.0. Some of the important features include remote method invocation (RMI), Java database connectivity (JDBC) (or more specifically the java.sql package [2]), inner classes (nested classes), reflection, Java native interfaces (JNI), JavaBeans, internationalization, JAR files, and object serialization. With all of these new features, the possibilities for Java programs expand significantly compared to the ``old days'' of 1.0. This article will attempt to render a good explanation and tutorial through one of these new features: object serialization.