Julia: how stable are serialize() / deserialize()

Question

I am considering the use of serialize() and deserialize() for all of my data i/o due to their convenience. I do not, however, want to be stuck with unreadable files on a Julia update.

How stable are serialize() and deserialize()? Should they work between updates of 0.3? Can I expect safe behavior if I stick to basic types like arrays of Float64?

Thank you.

Answer 1

If you want to store data you might depend on being able to read in the future, you should not use a format that will incorporate breaking changes if/when someone finds it useful. As far as I understand the default serialization format is for network communications, so it is designed for maximum performance.

There is also the HDF5.jl package that uses a documented format and a common library that has wrappers for different languages.

Answer 2

I believe the official answer here is, "people will try not to break the serialization format, but you shouldn't depend upon on it."