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A new video resource is the gdevcon1 videos.

I learned a lot about serialization from writing my library. Took me 2 years of research and planning. "All I want to do is flatten and unflatten some data and I need a library of 900 VIs to do it?!?!?!!" Yes, give or take a couple hundred. Turns out serialization is really a lot more complex than I ever would have thought when you really get down to the core. Bloating the string is one of the most fascinating issues, something I totally ignored when I created the original flatten-to-string behaviors for LV classes. To flatten an object, you obviously need to record the type. But what about an array of objects? Do you need the type for every element in the array? Yes, if the array is heterogenous; no if it is homogenous. Can that be factored out? Depends upon what you plan to do with the string! If you're always going to start at the front of the string and unflatten all the data then you can factor out lots of stuff because you have context for the remainder of the string. But if you're going to fly along the string and find subportions to pull out then you need every subportion to be a complete record. "I have an array of 10000 objects. I need only 1 of them." That's a real serialization requirement and it has severe impact on the format of the string itself! Formatting for localization, formatting for versioning, formatting for different encodings, formatting for transmission (requires more redundancy in the data), pretty-printing for human readability... it's a mess. The one main takeaway I had from my project? I support trade embargoes on any nation that tries to use a comma for a decimal point. I know... Britain and the USA are outliers here, but, seriously, it's called a "decimal point"... stop putting a tail on it! I can deal with two different systems for units. I can deal with myriad ways to format a timestamp (even different calendars). I'm supportive of arcane Unicode encodings so that every language ever can be recorded. But I hit my breaking point on commas as decimal points. Why would I want to live in a world where I can order a 1.125 meter steel beam then be charged for delivery of something over a kilometer long?!?! This table should not exist. Yes, my library provides support for such abominations, but it was while adding that feature that I became a strong proponent of cultural hegemony!