does `@serializable` make the class implement an i...

# serialization

[christophsturm]

does @serializable make the class implement an interface? i would like to have a generic method accept only serializable classes, something like

<T : Serializable>

[marstran]

No, but you could provide the serializer as an argument:

fun <T> serializeSomething(serializer: KSerializer<T>) {
  // ...
}

Then call it like this: serializeSomething(Person.serializer())

[christophsturm]

yes thats what I’m doing now, was thinking if theres a way to avoid it.

[elizarov]

You can also make an inline reified version of it and use serializer() to lookup the serializer at compile-time based on the compile-time type, thus removing the need to pass serializer explicitly in your API

[christophsturm]

do you mean

T::class.serializer()

?

[elizarov]

No. I mean, top-level serializer<T>() where T is reified.

[elizarov]

(it works with lists all the other stuff that cannot be recovered from a class)

[marstran]

Oh, nice.

inline fun <reified T> serializeSomething(t: T) {
    val serializer = serializer<T>()
    // ...
}

[elizarov]

yes

[christophsturm]

the javadocs say * This is a computation-heavy call, so it is recommended to cache its result.

[elizarov]

It only matters if you do it a lot. (like sending millions messages per second). Also, we are working on intrinsifying it (to move it fully to compile-time)

[christophsturm]

ok, great thanks!