C++ - data serialization

I needed to serialize some simple data structures in C++ code and remembered how to do it in C#. It was like 9001 lines of code of boilerplate crap in .NET environment.

Well, in C++ it was of course hard because C++ is such crappy language, rite?


template<typename T>
bool serializeData(const T &data, std::ostream &os)
{
    os.write(reinterpret_cast<const char*>(&data), sizeof(data));
    return os.good();
}

template<typename T>
bool deserializeData(T &data, std::istream &is)
{
    is.read(reinterpret_cast<char*>(&data), sizeof(data));
    return is.good();
}

>>33
Why not just cast a buffer to a function pointer and just call that. You don't have to go that far into undefined territory by making a (stack) buffer overflow and asking the user to exploit it (which depends on compiler(version, optimization settings used, ...), OS, CPU, ...). Calling a buffer directly is undefined territory, but at it's much closer to using inline assembly or linking some code object.