Java: recommended solution for deep cloning/copying an instance

Question

I\'m wondering if there is a recommended way of doing deep clone/copy of instance in java.

I have 3 solutions in mind, but I can have miss some, and I\'d like to ha

Answer 1

For deep cloning implement Serializable on every class you want to clone like this

public static class Obj implements Serializable {
    public int a, b;
    public Obj(int a, int b) {
        this.a = a;
        this.b = b;
    }
}

And then use this function:

public static Object deepClone(Object object) {
    try {
        ByteArrayOutputStream baOs = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
        ObjectOutputStream oOs = new ObjectOutputStream(baOs);
        oOs.writeObject(object);
        ByteArrayInputStream baIs = new ByteArrayInputStream(baOs.toByteArray());
        ObjectInputStream oIs = new ObjectInputStream(baIs);
        return oIs.readObject();
    }
    catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
        return null;
    }
}

like this: Obj newObject = (Obj)deepClone(oldObject);