Deserialize into a provided table

[nwinn-student]

What if we want go deserialize some data and treat it as modifications to an provided table?

The modifications necessary would include:

• Adding a parameter to tableDeserializer
• Treating the nil byte as a removal instead of skipping
• Changing serialization of key-value pairs, when the value is a function or thread. Instead of continuing, it will store both the key and nil.

The usage is primarily to support diff-based formats sent across the wire. However, it fails to adhere to the desired outcome in some situations; such as when an internal table was modified (it is replaced) or a table key's value is modified ( { [{...}] = ... }, just adds the key-value pair instead of modifying). The table key's value aspect could be fixed via the existing table parameter idea, however it adds considerable overhead since each table, internal and the table itself, would need to be cached.

One con is that the output size will inflate for datasets with functions, which prior were not stored (except in arrays). This inflation means that modifying the data before and after transit would be necessary. It also means that some of the future bytes may need to go towards replacement values, similar to pairs and existing, in order to mitigate the issue.

The idea will be declined since it cannot satisfy its own usage case and the output size impact is too expensive for certain datasets. While other usage cases may exist, all can already be satisfied without needing to modify BS, and the modifications will not satisfy enough of the usage cases to be viable.