Java and Object Serialization

Question

Every example I have seen regarding object serialization, includes an all field constructor and a getter and setter method for every field. Is this nessecary? What do you have to do to make a java object serializable, other tagging it with the serializable interface and assuring all non-transient field are them selves serializable.

Answer 1

There is nothing required to make an Object serializable, apart from the basic steps you've mentioned. There are no requirements for the existence of getters/setters or constructors of a certain form (though there may be other legitimate reasons to want those).

Answer 2

The constructor/getters/setters are not mandatory. Non-transient collections although serializable containing references to non-serializable objects will cause failures.