Summary

This chapter offered a high-level overview of exchanging data between .NET and Java. We looked at two technologies for performing this exchange: binary serialization and XML serialization. In its raw form in the .NET Framework and in Java, binary serialization doesn't make for a good interoperability story, but the concepts still apply, given the right set of third-party tools. The chapter's examination of using XML for data exchange started with a quick example of using XML parsing to exchange data between the two platforms. The discussion then concentrated on using XML serialization and creating data types that map to a standard XSD document for each platform.

This concludes Part I of the book, "Getting Started," which detailed the fundamentals, the business requirements, and the exchange of data as a way of introducing interoperability concepts. Part II, "Interoperability Technologies: Point to Point," will cover point-to-point interoperability. Chapter 4 begins the part by expanding on the concept of binary serialization introduced in this chapter and investigating how .NET Remoting can be used to communicate between the two platforms.