C#

OriginalGriff wrote:

lovely univotes

OriginalGriff wrote:

found it pretty simple to shout at you in red letters

abstract class Message
{
    int messageID;

    public Message(BinaryReader r)
    {
        messageID = r.ReadInt32();
    }

    public static Message Deserialize(BinaryReader r)
    {
        switch (r.ReadByte())
        {
            case 0:
                return new SomeSpecificMessageWithData(r);
            case 1:
                //some other message
                break;
        }
    }

    public virtual void Serialize(BinaryWriter w)
    {
        w.Write(messageID);
    }
}
class SomeSpecificMessageWithData : Message
{
    int somethingOrOther;
    float a_float;
    string name;
    const byte TypeID = 0;

    public SomeSpecificMessageWithData(BinaryReader r)
        : base(r)
    {
        somethingOrOther = r.ReadInt32();
        name = r.ReadString();
        a_float = r.ReadSingle();
    }

    public override Serialize(BinaryWriter w)
    {
        w.Write(TypeID);
        base.Serialize(w);
        w.Write(somethingOrOther);
        w.Write(name);
        w.Write(a_float);
    }
}