An efficient incremental marshaling framework for distributed systems

We present an efficient and incremental (un)marshaling framework designed for distributed applications. A marshaler/ unmarshaler pair converts arbitrary structured data between its host and network representations. This technology can also be used for persistent storage. Our framework simplifies the design of efficient and flexible marshalers. The network latency is reduced by concurrent execution of (un)marshaling and network operations. The framework is actually used in Mozart, a distributed programming system that implements Oz, a multi-paradigm concurrent language.