Serialization Library PTOT: Put this over there

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PTOT: Put this over there

This is a general purpose serialization library for Zig types. I created this over time for my in progress mmo and then separated it out into it’s own library. Hopefully, this can be of use to you as well.

Features:

  • Types must be added to your Lexicon for them to be serialized. I didn’t want to accidentally sent data to the client that was unnecessary and that I didn’t realize I was sending
  • Allocation is only required when a type contains a pointer. This is assert-able via Lexicon.assert_no_allocation_required. it even gives a nice little crumble trail for where the allocation is required.
  • You can register manually created Codecs to your Lexicon for fine control over how the data is serialized.
    For Example:
pub const StrRefCodec = struct {
    // StrRef is a enum(u32) into an intern pool. If I send a StrRef to the client I expect the receiving field to be a []const u8, so the codec isn't called client side
    pub fn serialize(Lexicon: type, self: common.StrRef, w: *std.Io.Writer) C.SError!void {
        _ = @import("build_options").role == .Server or unreachable;
        try Lexicon.serialize([]const u8, self.slice(), w);
    }
    pub fn deserialize(Lexicon: type, _: *std.Io.Reader, _: std.mem.Allocator) C.DError!common.StrRef {
        unreachable;
    }
};

I recently added a byte slice optimization: If a type has a safe and stable memory layout it can be serialized as bytes in 1 writeAll call instead of generating more generic functions. In the future I want to support allocating to a type controlled Arena for simpler deallocation and a niche optimization for types that contain many optionals.

Supported Zig versions

0.16.0