serialization - Is it possible to serialize and deserialize a class in C++?

Question

Is it possible to serialize and deserialize a class in C++?

I've been using Java for 3 years now, and serialization / deserialization is fairly trivial in that language. Does C++ have similar features? Are there native libraries that handle serialization?

An example would be helpful.

Answer 1

The Boost::serialization library handles this rather elegantly. I've used it in several projects. There's an example program, showing how to use it, here.

The only native way to do it is to use streams. That's essentially all the Boost::serialization library does, it extends the stream method by setting up a framework to write objects to a text-like format and read them from the same format.

For built-in types, or your own types with operator<< and operator>> properly defined, that's fairly simple; see the C++ FAQ for more information.