serialize all of python
Dill extends python's 'pickle' module for serializing and de-serializing python objects to the majority of the built-in python types. Serialization is the process of converting an object to a byte stream, and the inverse of which is converting a byte stream back to on python object hierarchy.
Dill provides the user the same interface as the 'pickle' module, and also includes some additional features. In addition to pickling python objects, dill provides the ability to save the state of an interpreter session in a single command. Hence, it would be feasable to save a interpreter session, close the interpreter, ship the pickled file to another computer, open a new interpreter, unpickle the session and thus continue from the 'saved' state of the original interpreter session.
Dill can be used to store python objects to a file, but the primary usage is to send python objects across the network as a byte stream. Dill is quite flexible, and allows arbitrary user defined classes and funcitons to be serialized. Thus dill is not intended to be secure against erroneously or maliciously constructed data. It is left to the user to decide whether the data they unpickle is from a trustworthy source.
Dill is part of pathos, a python framework for heterogenous computing. Dill is in the early development stages, and any user feedback is highly appreciated. Contact Mike McKerns [mmckerns at caltech dot edu] with comments, suggestions, and any bugs you may find. A list of known issues is maintained at http://trac.mystic.cacr.caltech.edu/project/pathos/query.
Dill can pickle the following standard types::
- none, type, bool, int, long, float, complex, str, unicode,
- tuple, list, dict, file, buffer, builtin,
- both old and new style classes,
- instances of old and new style classes,
- set, frozenset, array, functions, exceptions
Dill can also pickle more 'exotic' standard types::
- functions with yields, nested functions, lambdas
- cell, method, unboundmethod, module, code,
- dictproxy, methoddescriptor, getsetdescriptor, memberdescriptor,
- wrapperdescriptor, xrange, slice,
- notimplemented, ellipsis, quit
Dill cannot yet pickle these standard types::
- frame, generator, traceback
Dill also provides the capability to::
- save and load python interpreter sessions
The latest released version of dill is available from:: http://trac.mystic.cacr.caltech.edu/project/pathos
Dill is distributed under a modified BSD license.
You can get the latest development release with all the shiny new features at:: http://dev.danse.us/packages.
or even better, fork us on our github mirror of the svn trunk:: https://github.com/uqfoundation
If you use dill to do research that leads to publication, we ask that you acknowledge use of dill by citing the following in your publication::
M.M. McKerns, L. Strand, T. Sullivan, A. Fang, M.A.G. Aivazis,
"Building a framework for predictive science", Proceedings of
the 10th Python in Science Conference, 2011;
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1202.1056
Michael McKerns and Michael Aivazis,
"pathos: a framework for heterogeneous computing", 2010- ;
http://trac.mystic.cacr.caltech.edu/project/pathos
Probably the best way to get started is to look at the tests
that are provide within dill. See dill.tests for a set of scripts
that test dill's ability to serialize different python objects.
Since dill conforms to the 'pickle' interface, the examples and
documentation at http://docs.python.org/library/pickle.html also
apply to dill if one will import dill as pickle. Dill's source code is also generally well documented,
so further questions may be resolved by inspecting the code itself, or through
browsing the reference manual. For those who like to leap before
they look, you can jump right to the installation instructions. If the aforementioned documents
do not adequately address your needs, please send us feedback.
Dill is an active research tool. There are a growing number of publications and presentations that discuss real-world examples and new features of dill in greater detail than presented in the user's guide. If you would like to share how you use dill in your work, please send us a link.