System and method for improved serialization of java objects

Abstract

A distributed (e.g., client/server) computing environment is described which implements protocol methodology improving the streaming of objects, such as for distributed applications. In particular, the methodology facilitates streaming of objects (e.g., Java objects) stored and managed remotely (e.g., objects stored and managed in relational databases) to clients in a highly efficient manner. The methodology may be implemented by extending an existing streaming methodology or protocol to include a class identifier approach for supporting object serialization. A Class ID (ACI) serialization is provided as a protocol for converting between a java object and a binary representation. ACI is intended for an environment in which all classes ever involved in any serialization are known by the environment (as is often the case). Each class known to the environment is represented by a compact numeric identifier, and it is this identifier alone that is used to represent the class description in the serialization. A table of the class identifiers is kept at the beginning of each serialization. A simple transformation is applied to achieve portability, so that any ACI serialization can be converted to a portable serialization, a Class Descriptor serialization (ACD). The ACD is identical to ACI except that the class identifier table beginning ACI is replaced by a table of class descriptors. These class descriptors contain virtually the same information as standard (e.g., Sun) class descriptors, so an ACD serialization has the same portability characteristics as Sun serialization. In this manner, the present invention provides the ability to create and stream objects, particularly Java objects, in a manner which does not incur a substantial size or resource penalty.