Draft Object Serialization Specification for records - construction/destruction

[Peter Levart]

Hi Chris,

On Tuesday, October 1, 2019 12:56:55 PM CEST Chris Hegarty wrote:
> Please find a link to the draft serialization spec for records:
> 
> https://cr.openjdk.java.net/~chegar/records/spec/records-serialization.03.ht
> ml
> 
> This spec will be updated to reflect the upcoming core reflection
> changes for RecordComponent.
> 
> Comments welcome.
> 
> -Chris.

Here's a snipped from above draft:

"""The serialized form of a record object is a sequence of values derived from 
the final instance fields of the object. The stream format of a record object 
is the same as that of an ordinary object in the stream. During 
deserialization, if the local class equivalent of the specified stream class 
descriptor is a record class, then first the stream fields are read and 
reconstructed to serve as the record's component values; and second, a record 
object is created by invoking the record's canonical constructor with the 
component values as arguments (or the default value for component's type if a 
component value is absent from the stream).
"""

I think that if stream values deserialize into a record through its public API 
(the canonical constructor which can be customized), then record components 
that are serailzed must also be obtained from a record via its public API (the 
accessors which can also be customized).

I think this is an important aspect which should be spelled out in the 
specification. So instead of: "The serialized form of a record object is a 
sequence of values derived from the final instance fields of the object.", the 
text should go: "The serialized form of a record object is a sequence of 
values derived from invoking the record component accessors."

What do you think?

Regards, Peter