XML vs Binary performance for Serialization/Deserialization

Question

I\'m working on a compact framework application and need to boost performance. The app currently works offline by serializing objects to XML and storing them in a database.

Answer 1

Interesting... thoughts:

• what version of CF is this; 2.0? 3.5? In particular, CF 3.5 has Delegate.CreateDelegate that allows protobuf-net to access properties much faster than in can in CF 2.0
• are you annotating fields or properties? Again, in CF the reflection optimisations are limited; you can get beter performance in CF 3.5 with properties, as with a field the only option I have available is FieldInfo.SetValue

There are a number of other things that simply don't exist in CF, so it has to make compromises in a few places. For overly complex models there is also a known issue with the generics limitations of CF. A fix is underway, but it is a big change, and is taking "a while".

For info, some metrics on regular (full) .NET comparing various formats (including XmlSerializer and protobuf-net) are here.