Serializer

All Known Implementing Classes:

DoubleSerializer, IdentifierSerializer, LongSerializer
```
public interface Serializer<T>
```
Interface used by the BackgroundMemoryList to serialise the elements of the list into bytestreams and vice versa. The elements serialised form has to have a constant memory footprint. Otherwise using the BackgroundMemoryList will not work as it relies on the constant sizes to seek in the background storage and calculate the number of elements.

Method Summary

All Methods Instance Methods Abstract Methods
Modifier and Type	Method	Description
`T[]`	`deserialise(byte[] bytes)`	Convert a serialised form into an array of elements of the serialiser's type
`long`	`getElementLength()`
`byte[]`	`serialise(Object[] objects, int count)`	Convert the given array of elements into their serialised form.

- Method Detail
  - getElementLength
```
long getElementLength()
```
    Returns:
    
    The size of each element in serialised form, e.g., for doubles it could be 8 bytes (IEEE format). The result is not allowed to change at runtime
  - serialise
```
byte[] serialise(Object[] objects,
                 int count)
```
    Convert the given array of elements into their serialised form. Attention: Due to a flaw in Java Generics, this signature cannot be serialise(T[] objects, int count) as this leads to a class cast exception despite the fact that you pass the right array. We kept the Type parameter to get at least a type save deserialise.
    
    Parameters:
    
    objects - The array of elements to serialise
    
    count - The number of elements to serialise
    
    Returns:
    
    The elements in their serialised form
  - deserialise
```
T[] deserialise(byte[] bytes)
```
    Convert a serialised form into an array of elements of the serialiser's type
    
    Parameters:
    
    bytes - The byte array to deserialise
    
    Returns:
    
    An array of elements deserialised from the given byte array