title: Java: appropriate way to pass messages between client and servlet?
body: <p>My system successfully passes objects from a client to servlet. However it is primitive as it was built to cater for Java 1.1. The message object it passes consists of an int (representing one of about seventy types) and a String of tokens which need to be parsed (the tokens may contain a list, a list of objects, etc). Not good!</p>
  
  <p>So, I'm looking to refactor this to Java 1.5. Using an enum instead of an int is certainly an improvement, but I'm unsure how to send the rest of the message. Creating seventy different classes to represent each type surely isn't the correct way to go.</p>
  
  <p>Any pointers on how I should refactor this?</p>