CODEWITHSUNDEEP
encodingserviceserialization
Rodniko
Rodniko

Reputation: 5124

What is the difference between serializing and encoding?

What is the difference between serializing and encoding? When should I use each in a web service?

Upvotes: 61

Views: 20150

Answers (1)

Matt Kocaj
Matt Kocaj

Reputation: 11535

Serializing is about moving structured data over a storage/transmission medium in a way that the structure can be maintained. Encoding is more broad, like about how said data is converted to different forms, etc. Perhaps you could think about serializing being a subset of encoding in this example.

With regard to a web service, you will probably be considering serializing/deserializing certain data for making/receiving requests/responses - effectively transporting "messages". Encoding is at a lower level, like how your messaging/web service type/serialization mechanism works under the hood.

Upvotes: 54

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