Unserialized

The term 'unserialized' describes data or an object that has not been converted into a format (like a string or a byte stream) suitable for storage, transmission, or reconstruction. It is in its original, often complex, in-memory state. This contrasts with serialized data, which has been flattened for ease of handling. unserialized data usually represents its raw form and isn't directly storable or transportable without some form of encoding.

Unserialized meaning with examples

• The developer realized the database couldn't store the complex object in its unserialized state. Attempts to directly insert the intricate data structure resulted in errors because the database only accepted flattened, serialized formats. Conversion to JSON was necessary to achieve persistence.
• Debugging the application revealed that an unserialized object, containing circular references, was being passed across threads. This led to unexpected behavior because each thread couldn't directly access or understand the object in its raw, interconnected form, forcing the use of thread-safe messaging and serialization.
• During a system backup, the program encountered issues when trying to archive unserialized data directly. The backup process expected files; instead, it found in-memory objects. The team had to implement a serialization process before backing up any of the object's data from the server.
• Attempting to transmit the application's state over the network failed because the program attempted to send unserialized class instances. The network protocol mandated byte-based data for transmission, and these complex objects needed to be converted using JSON, XML or other serialization methods.