Banana Object Notation

A (reasonably) fast, compact (non-)human-readable table serialization library for Lua

Purpose

To store huge tables in a string format with no problems and retrieve tables back from strings as quickly as possible.

Where is this used?

Nowhere D: (yet)

How is bON different?

As of version 27092015, bON:

• Automatically detects ordered keys and does not serialize their value.
• Washes your dishes (maybe)
• Handles any type of recursing tables (even tables that recurse through their keys!)
• Does your homework for you. (sometimes)
• Re-uses table keys and values where possible, saving huge amounts of data with big tables.

Supported types

• number
• string
• boolean
• table (obviously)
• nil (yes, this is a joke)

GLua only:

• Entity
• Vehicle
• Weapon
• NextBot
• NPC
• Player
• Vector
• Color
• ConVar (no, this is not a joke.)

Lua only:

• function (no, this is not a joke.)

Benchmarks? Benchmarks.

Against vON:

(tested with no recursion, as vON did not like recursing tables)

Tested with Lua 5.3.0

Table used (derived from the vON example):

local tbl = {
    1, -1337, -99.99, 2, 3, 100, 101, 121, 143, 144, "ma\"ra", "are", "mere",
    {
        500,600,700,800,900,9001,
        [true] = false,
        [false] = "lol?",
        pere = true,
        [1997] = "vasile",
        [{ [true] = false, [false] = true }] = { [true] = "true", ["false"] = false }
    },
    true, false, false, true, false, true, true, false, true,
    [1337] = 1338,
    mara = "are",
    mere = false,
    [true] = false,
    [{ [true] = false, [false] = true }] = { [true] = "true", ["false"] = false },
	ayy = "lmao",
	memes = {
		XD = "wow",
		tableInsideTable = {
			"wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!",
			"wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!",
			"wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!",
			"wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!",
			"wow",
			"wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!",
			"wow",
			"wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!",
			"wow",
			"wow",
			"wow",
			"wow",
			"wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!",
			"wow",
			"wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!",
			"wow",
			"wow",
			"wow"
		},
		tooMuchSwag = {
			"because i am swad"
		}
	},
	whoo = 1234
}

--[[
tbl.recursion = tbl
tbl.memes.recurse = tbl
]]

sON output:

{;n1;n-1337;n-99.99;n2;n3;n100;n101;n121;n143;n144;sma"ra;sare;smere;{;n500;n600;n700;n800;n900;n9001;F=slol?;T=22;n1997=svasile;{;22=24;24=22;}={;sfalse=22;24=strue;};spere=24;};24;22;22;24;22;24;24;22;24;swhoo=n1234;24=22;smemes={;stooMuchSwag={;sbecause i am swad;};stableInsideTable={;swow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!;41;41;41;swow;41;42;41;42;42;42;42;41;42;41;42;42;42;};sXD=42;};sayy=slmao;{;22=24;24=22;}={;29=22;24=30;};n1337=n1338;smara=13;14=22;}

vON output:

n1;n-1337;n-99.99;n2;n3;n100;n101;n121;n143;n144;"ma\"rav""arev""merev"{n500;n600;n700;n800;n900;n9001~b0:"lol?v"b1:0{~b0:11:0}:{~"falsev":b01:"truev"}n1997:"vasilev""perev":b1}b100101101~"marav":"arev"b1:0"whoov":n1234;n1337:n1338;"ayyv":"lmaov""memesv":{~"tableInsideTablev":{"wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!v""wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!v""wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!v""wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!v""wowv""wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!v""wowv""wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!v""wowv""wowv""wowv""wowv""wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!v""wowv""wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!v""wowv""wowv""wowv"}"XDv":"wowv""tooMuchSwagv":{"because i am swadv"}}"merev":b0{~b0:11:0}:{~"falsev":b01:"truev"}

Benchmark output (using os.clock):

bON serialization       439     characters
vON serialization       633     characters
Serialization
bON: 0.397 sec
vON: 0.231 sec
vON wins by 171.86147186147%
Deserialization
bON: 0.225 sec
vON: 0.202 sec
vON wins by 111.38613861386%

And that's the price of having compact data. D:

Example Usage

First, place bon.lua somewhere in your working directory

In GLua:

local bON = CompileFile("path/to/bon.lua")()
local tbl = {"wow!"}

local serialized = bON.serialize(tbl)
print(serialized)

local deserialized = bON.deserialize(serialized)
PrintTable(tbl)
PrintTable(deserialized)

In Lua:

local bON = dofile("path/to/bon.lua")
local tbl = {"wow!"}

local serialized = bON.serialize(tbl)
print(serialized)

local deserialized = bON.deserialize(serialized)
for k,v in pairs(tbl) do
    print(k,v)
end
for k,v in pairs(deserialized) do
    print(k,v)
end