Fastest way to serialize and deserialize .NET objects

Question

I'm looking for the fastest way to serialize and deserialize .NET objects. Here is what I have so far:

public class TD
{
    public List<CT> CTs { get; set; }
    public List<TE> TEs { get; set; }
    public string Code { get; set; }
    public string Message { get; set; }
    public DateTime StartDate { get; set; }
    public DateTime EndDate { get; set; }

    public static string Serialize(List<TD> tData)
    {
        var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<TD>));

        TextWriter writer = new StringWriter();
        serializer.Serialize(writer, tData);

        return writer.ToString();
    }

    public static List<TD> Deserialize(string tData)
    {
        var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<TD>));

        TextReader reader = new StringReader(tData);

        return (List<TD>)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
    }        
}

Answer 1

Here's your model (with invented CT and TE) using protobuf-net (yet retaining the ability to use XmlSerializer, which can be useful - in particular for migration); I humbly submit (with lots of evidence if you need it) that this is the fastest (or certainly one of the fastest) general purpose serializer in .NET.

If you need strings, just base-64 encode the binary.

[XmlType]
public class CT {
    [XmlElement(Order = 1)]
    public int Foo { get; set; }
}
[XmlType]
public class TE {
    [XmlElement(Order = 1)]
    public int Bar { get; set; }
}
[XmlType]
public class TD {
    [XmlElement(Order=1)]
    public List<CT> CTs { get; set; }
    [XmlElement(Order=2)]
    public List<TE> TEs { get; set; }
    [XmlElement(Order = 3)]
    public string Code { get; set; }
    [XmlElement(Order = 4)]
    public string Message { get; set; }
    [XmlElement(Order = 5)]
    public DateTime StartDate { get; set; }
    [XmlElement(Order = 6)]
    public DateTime EndDate { get; set; }

    public static byte[] Serialize(List<TD> tData) {
        using (var ms = new MemoryStream()) {
            ProtoBuf.Serializer.Serialize(ms, tData);
            return ms.ToArray();
        }            
    }

    public static List<TD> Deserialize(byte[] tData) {
        using (var ms = new MemoryStream(tData)) {
            return ProtoBuf.Serializer.Deserialize<List<TD>>(ms);
        }
    }
}