I'm currently serializing and de-serializing bytes...

# serialization

[Edoardo Luppi]

I'm currently serializing and de-serializing bytes manually to and from objects for a custom TCP-level protocol.
Structures are relatively simple, so I'd guess a custom kotlinx-serialization format might make writing new stuff easier on the long run, especially for devs unfamiliar with direct bytes handling.
How much work goes into creating a custom format?

[Edoardo Luppi]

@hfhbd mind if I use your CSV one as a starting point to study how it's done?
I guess I'll have to switch from StringFormat to BinaryFormat.

[hfhbd]

Sure, feel free, I just followed the docs, though.

[Edoardo Luppi]

Any issue you found particularly problematic/time consuming while developing it?

[hfhbd]

It really depends on your format and your classes and what you want to support. Basic stuff is easy, especially object orientated formats, the FLF format is some kind a mess due its specification (no delimiters etc.) and the features I need eg sealed classes.

[Edoardo Luppi]

I'll give it a go then. Sounds easy enough for simple formats.

[Edoardo Luppi]

Is using BinaryFormat or StringFormat mandatory? I'd like to accept only a certain interface instead of a random type T.

[hfhbd]

Its not. It is even unstable

[Edoardo Luppi]

Perfect, thanks

[Adam S]

btw this discussion from a few weeks ago about only allowing specific interfaces to be serialized might be relevant https://kotlinlang.slack.com/archives/C7A1U5PTM/p1701249570920719