binary: Binary serialisation for Haskell values using lazy ByteStrings

  binary: efficient, pure binary serialisation using lazy ByteStrings
------------------------------------------------------------------------

The 'binary' package provides Data.Binary, containing the Binary class,
and associated methods, for serialising values to and from lazy
ByteStrings. 

A key feature of 'binary' is that the interface is both pure, and efficient.

The 'binary' package is portable to GHC and Hugs.

Building:

    runhaskell Setup.lhs configure
    runhaskell Setup.lhs build
    runhaskell Setup.lhs install

First:
    import Data.Binary

and then write an instance of Binary for the type you wish to serialise.
More information in the haddock documentation.

Deriving:

It is possible to mechanically derive new instances of Binary for your
types, if they support the Data and Typeable classes. A script is
provided in tools/derive. Here's an example of its use.

    $ cd binary 
    $ cd tools/derive 

    $ ghci -fglasgow-exts BinaryDerive.hs

    *BinaryDerive> :l Example.hs 

    *Main> deriveM (undefined :: Exp)

    instance Binary Main.Exp where
      put (ExpOr a b) = putWord8 0 >> put a >> put b
      put (ExpAnd a b) = putWord8 1 >> put a >> put b
      put (ExpEq a b) = putWord8 2 >> put a >> put b
      put (ExpNEq a b) = putWord8 3 >> put a >> put b
      put (ExpAdd a b) = putWord8 4 >> put a >> put b
      put (ExpSub a b) = putWord8 5 >> put a >> put b
      put (ExpVar a) = putWord8 6 >> put a
      put (ExpInt a) = putWord8 7 >> put a
      get = do
        tag_ <- getWord8
        case tag_ of
          0 -> get >>= \a -> get >>= \b -> return (ExpOr a b)
          1 -> get >>= \a -> get >>= \b -> return (ExpAnd a b)
          2 -> get >>= \a -> get >>= \b -> return (ExpEq a b)
          3 -> get >>= \a -> get >>= \b -> return (ExpNEq a b)
          4 -> get >>= \a -> get >>= \b -> return (ExpAdd a b)
          5 -> get >>= \a -> get >>= \b -> return (ExpSub a b)
          6 -> get >>= \a -> return (ExpVar a)
          7 -> get >>= \a -> return (ExpInt a)
          _ -> fail "no decoding"

Contributors:

    Lennart Kolmodin
    Duncan Coutts
    Don Stewart
    Spencer Janssen
    David Himmelstrup
    Björn Bringert
    Ross Paterson
    Einar Karttunen
    John Meacham
    Ulf Norell
    Tomasz Zielonka
    Stefan Karrmann
    Bryan O'Sullivan
    Florian Weimer