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Section 36:
36.1 What's this "serialization" thing all about?
36.2 How do I select the best serialization technique?
36.3 How do I decide whether to serialize to human-readable ("text") or non-human-readable ("binary") format?
36.4 How do I serialize/unserialize simple types like numbers, characters, strings, etc.?
36.5 How exactly do I read/write simple types in human-readable ("text") format?
36.6 How exactly do I read/write simple types in non-human-readable ("binary") format?
36.7 How do I serialize objects that aren't part of an inheritance hierarchy and that don't contain pointers to other objects?
36.8 How do I serialize objects that are part of an inheritance hierarchy and that don't contain pointers to other objects?
36.9 How do I serialize objects that contain pointers to other objects, but those pointers form a tree with no cycles and no joins?
36.10 How do I serialize objects that contain pointers to other objects, but those pointers form a tree with no cycles and only "trivial" joins?
36.11 How do I serialize objects that contain pointers to other objects, and those pointers form a graph that might have cycles or non-trivial joins?
36.12 Are there any caveats when serializing / unserializing objects?
36.13 What's all this about graphs, trees, nodes, cycles, joins, and joins at the leaves vs. internal nodes?
[36.4] How do I serialize/unserialize simple types like numbers, characters, strings, etc.?

The answer depends on your decision regarding human-readable ("text") format vs. non-human-readable ("binary") format:

The primitives discussed in those FAQs will be needed for most of the other FAQs in this section.