Storing instances using jsonpickle

[Ned Batchelder]

On 9/3/14 6:30 PM, Josh English wrote:
> On Wednesday, September 3, 2014 1:53:23 PM UTC-7, Ned Batchelder wrote:
>
>> Pickle (and it looks like jsonpickle) does not invoke the class'
>> __init__ method when it reconstitutes objects.  Your new __init__ is not
>> being run, so new attributes it defines are not being created.
>>
>> This is one of the reasons that people avoid pickle: being completely
>> implicit is very handy, but also fragile.
>>
>
> I seem to remember having this exact same frustration when I used pickle and shelve 15 years ago. I had hoped to have another way around this. I spent over a decade trying to make an XML-based database work, in part because of this limitation.
>
> Some days I get so frustrated I think the only data structure I should ever use is a dictionary.
>
> I suppose to make this sort of thing work, I should look at creating custom json encoders and decoders.
>

Typically, you need to decide explicitly on a serialized representation 
for your data.  Even if it's JSON, you need to decide what that JSON 
looks like.  Then you need to write code that converts the JSON-able 
data structure (dict of lists, whatever) into your object.  Often a 
version number is a good idea so that you have some chance of using old 
data as your code changes.

-- 
Ned Batchelder, http://nedbatchelder.com