Quote Originally Posted by Mario F. View Post
As for mapping, MK27 is correct in my option. There's not requirement for serialization to perform any sort of data transformations. For all purposes, one can serialize an object by simply writing its current memory representation byte by byte. If there's any data mapping occurring, it will be a decision of the programmer usually to store it in a more convenient format for quick retrieval later or to be accessible by other programs. But definitely not anything deemed necessary to perform the task of serializing an object.
Tell me how do you map trees and graphs byte by byte? Especially the circular one.