serialize() vs json_encode()

[lsmith77]

just wanted to know if there is a particular benefit that made you prefer serialize() over json_encode() ? I am currently looking into doing some analytics and machine learning over the versions and it would be convenient to be able to use JSON RDBMS functions to examine the data etc.

in this spirit would you be open to a PR that makes it optional if the encoding is done with serialize() or json_encode() ?

[nonoesp]

Hey, @lsmith77!

This would be a question for @mpociot, who is the original author. Is the size bigger as JSON than as a binary?

I'd be willing to play with this and look at the differences if you open a pull request.

[lsmith77]

thx. here are some benchmarks that can help on this topic https://niden.net/post/fast-serialization-of-data-in-php/

[nonoesp]

It does seem to be a lot faster!

[lsmith77]

BTW I am not sure if with JSON there might be a risk that the decoded data does not match the encoded data, ie. array vs. objects and null handling. so I think likely if at all, we want to make this an option

[lsmith77]

FYI still haven't had time to work on this .. but I just had another use case pop up for JSON:
I just renamed "is_hidden" to "is_shown", now I would like to update the version history to reflect this renaming.
With JSON I could just write an SQL query to do this.

[nonoesp]

FYI still haven't had time to work on this .. but I just had another use case pop up for JSON:
I just renamed "is_hidden" to "is_shown", now I would like to update the version history to reflect this renaming.
With JSON I could just write an SQL query to do this.

Nice! That use case makes a lot of sense.