Difference Between Serialization and Deserialization in Java

Serialization

 Java provides a mechanism, called object serialization where an object can be represented as a sequence of bytes that includes the object's data as well as information about the object's type and the types of data stored in the object.

Example

import java.io.*;

public class SerializeDemo {
   public static void main(String [] args) {
      Employee e = new Employee();
      e.name = "Reyan Ali";
      e.address = "Phokka Kuan, Ambehta Peer";
      e.SSN = 11122333;
      e.number = 101;

      try {
         FileOutputStream fileOut = new FileOutputStream("/tmp/employee.ser");
         ObjectOutputStream out = new ObjectOutputStream(fileOut);
         out.writeObject(e);
         out.close();
         fileOut.close();
         System.out.printf("Serialized data is saved in /tmp/employee.ser");
      } catch (IOException i) {
         i.printStackTrace();
      }
   }
}

Deserialization

 After a serialized object has been written into a file, it can be read from the file and Deserialized that is, the type information and bytes that represent the object and its data can be used to recreate the object in memory.

Example

import java.io.*;

public class DeserializeDemo {
   public static void main(String [] args) {
      Employee e = null;
     
      try {
         FileInputStream fileIn = new FileInputStream("/tmp/employee.ser");
         ObjectInputStream in = new ObjectInputStream(fileIn);
         e = (Employee) in.readObject();
         in.close();
         fileIn.close();
      } catch (IOException i) {
         i.printStackTrace();
         return;
      } catch (ClassNotFoundException c) {
         System.out.println("Employee class not found");
         c.printStackTrace();
         return;
      }
      System.out.println("Deserialized Employee...");
      System.out.println("Name: " + e.name);
      System.out.println("Address: " + e.address);
      System.out.println("SSN: " + e.SSN);
      System.out.println("Number: " + e.number);
   }
}

Output

Deserialized Employee...
Name: Reyan Ali
Address:Phokka Kuan, Ambehta Peer
SSN: 0
Number:101