title: Cross-platform and language (de)serialization
body: <p>I'm looking for a way to serialize a bunch of C++ structs in the most convenient way so that the serialization is portable across C++ and Java (at a minimum) and across 32bit/64bit, big/little endian platforms.  The structures to be serialized just contain data, i.e. they're pure data objects with no state or behavior.</p>
  
  <p>The idea being that we serialize the structs into an octet blob that we can store in a database "generically" and be read out later on.  Thus avoiding changing the database whenever a struct changes and also avoiding assigning each data member to a field - i.e. we only want one table to hold everything "generically" as a binary blob.  This should make less work for developers and require less changes when structures change.</p>
  
  <p>I've looked at boost.serialize but don't think there's a way to enable compatibility with Java.  And likewise for inheriting Serializable in Java.</p>
  
  <p>If there is a way to do it by starting with an IDL file that would be best as we already have IDL files that describe the structures.</p>
  
  <p>Cheers in advance!</p>