Writing a de/serializer is pretty straightforward, the only slightly tricky bit is handling graphs (you record each object, associated with a label; when you en

Writing a de/serializer is pretty straightforward, the only slightly tricky bit is handling graphs (you record each object, associated with a label; when you encounter it again, you serialize a ref symbol to its label). It sounds like a whole project, but it's only for your specific use, it wouldn't be that much work, and definitely be worth it. But hand-serializing everything is a serious grind. Would you use a code generator (or use BCEL or similar) for the default case? I bet the vast majority of cases are automatable, and for the other cases it's a starting point. For cold start, I personally like the idea of reusing a JVM. It would be nice if it just had a reset or clear button. :-) BTW: Even though serialization is just a tiny part of your project, you are right on top of it - I'm a little awed. Thanks for this discussion, you helped inspire me to write my first Ruby program tonight (a regular expression engine) - it felt much lighter-weight than Java (but it's a bit difficult to judge, because it's a problem I'd previously worked out how to implement in Java).