Tough question - serialization cause infinate loop ?

Question

If two objects with non-"transient" references to each other are serialized using ObjectOutputStream, will this create an infinite loop?
i saw this question posted on another forum and I had no freakin idea :=) but im curious does it ?
how can you get into an infinate loop situation while using ObjectOutputStream and serialization

Answer 1

Come on now. The people at sun are a bit smarter than that. If an object has already been serialized to a stream, the stream will not re-serialize it, it will just insert a reference to the objects position earlier in the stream.
so for example
class A implements java.io.Serializable {
   private B b;
class B java.io.Serializable {
   private A a;
}Serializing an instance of A gives this (approx.):
A{b=B{a=|}}
|       |
|-<--<--|