Comparing Binary between languages

Question

Hi,
if one were to serialize the same object to binary in multiple languages, would one expect that the resulting Binary byte stream and length would be the same in all languages?
for example:
MyKey original = new MyKey(414041167, 3, "R");
SimplePofContext pofContext = new SimplePofContext();
pofContext.registerUserType(1003, MyKey.class, new MyKeySerializer());
Binary binary = ExternalizableHelper.toBinary(original, pofContext);
can I then compare the results from binary.length() and binary.ToByteArray() to those from dotnet and C++ for the same object?
thanks

Answer 1

HI JK,
Thanks, that's what I thought, just that a problem I am having has made me question what I previously thought. For a simple object with three fields I see different binary representations.
where :
MyKey = new MyKey(414041167, 3, "")
I get the following representations
dotnet:
{Binary(length=15, value=0xAB0F0000418F91EE8A03016C026240)}
java:
Binary(length=17, value=0x15AB0F0000418F91EE8A03016C024E0040)
The MyKey Class is a simple object with two int members and one string member.
dotnet serializer:
class MyKeySerialiser : IPofSerializer
#region IPofSerializer Members
public object Deserialize(IPofReader reader)
var key = new MyKey(reader.ReadInt32(0), reader.ReadInt32(1), reader.ReadString(2));
reader.ReadRemainder();
return key;
public void Serialize(IPofWriter writer, object o)
var key = (MyKey)o;
writer.VersionId = 0;
writer.WriteInt32(0, key.int1);
writer.WriteInt32(1, key.int2);
writer.WriteString(2, key.string);
writer.WriteRemainder(null);
#endregion
java serializer:
public class MyKeySerializer implements PofSerializer {
     @Override
     public Object deserialize(PofReader in) throws IOException {
          in.getVersionId();
          MyKey key =
               new MyKey(in.readInt(0),
                                   in.readInt(1),
                                   in.readString(2));
          in.readRemainder();
          return key;
     @Override
     public void serialize(PofWriter out, Object oKey) throws IOException {
          MyKey key = (MyKey) oKey;
          out.setVersionId (0);
          out.writeInt (0, key.getInt1());
          out.writeInt (1, key.getInt2());
          out.writeString     (2, key.getString());
          out.writeRemainder(null);
I believe something strange is happening with the empty string as when I use a key that has the string member variable populated then the binary matches exactly.
MyKey(683242439, 9, "R"); // works fine
Any ideas what is going on?