serialVersionUID

Published on May 24th, 2006 in Java

Ever wanted to know more about “serialVersionUID”? Check out this episode of the (Not So) Stupid Questions 8: serialVersionUID. This “stupid question” is about the serialVersionUID, which defaults to being a checksum of a class’ fields, methods, and other members. Now that some IDEs emit a warning when you don’t override it, the questions are: what is it good for, how and why would you override it, and what could go wrong if you do?

Shout it out!