Editing Serialization (section)

===Smalltalk===
In general, non-recursive and non-sharing objects can be stored and retrieved in a human readable form using the <code>storeOn:</code>/<code>readFrom:</code> protocol. The <code>storeOn:</code> method generates the text of a Smalltalk expression which – when evaluated using <code>readFrom:</code> – recreates the original object. This scheme is special, in that it uses a procedural description of the object, not the data itself. It is therefore very flexible, allowing for classes to define more compact representations. However, in its original form, it does not handle cyclic data structures or preserve the identity of shared references (i.e. two references a single object will be restored as references to two equal, but not identical copies). For this, various portable and non-portable alternatives exist. Some of them are specific to a particular Smalltalk implementation or class library. There are several ways in [[Squeak|Squeak Smalltalk]] to serialize and store objects. The easiest and most used are <code>storeOn:/readFrom:</code> and binary storage formats based on <code>SmartRefStream</code> serializers. In addition, bundled objects can be stored and retrieved using <code>ImageSegments</code>. Both provide a so-called "binary-object storage framework", which support serialization into and retrieval from a compact binary form. Both handle cyclic, recursive and shared structures, storage/retrieval of class and [[metaclass]] info and include mechanisms for "on the fly" object migration (i.e. to convert instances which were written by an older version of a class with a different object layout). The APIs are similar (storeBinary/readBinary), but the encoding details are different, making these two formats incompatible. However, the Smalltalk/X code is open source and free and can be loaded into other Smalltalks to allow for cross-dialect object interchange. Object serialization is not part of the ANSI Smalltalk specification. As a result, the code to serialize an object varies by Smalltalk implementation. The resulting binary data also varies. For instance, a serialized object created in Squeak Smalltalk cannot be restored in [[Ambrai Smalltalk]]. Consequently, various applications that do work on multiple Smalltalk implementations that rely on object serialization cannot share data between these different implementations. These applications include the MinneStore object database<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://minnestore.sourceforge.net/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511234145/http://minnestore.sourceforge.net/|archive-date=11 May 2008|website=SourceForge|title=MinneStore version 2}}</ref> and some [[Remote procedure call|RPC]] packages. A solution to this problem is SIXX,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mars.dti.ne.jp/~umejava/smalltalk/sixx/index.html|title=What's new|access-date=25 July 2021|website=SIXX - Smalltalk Instance eXchange in XML|date=23 January 2010}}</ref> which is a package for multiple Smalltalks that uses an [[XML]]-based format for serialization.