System and methods for loading objects from hash chains

A system comprising:

• a memory coupled to a computer processor;
• the memory comprising a runtime object, wherein the runtime object executes on the computer processor, uses the memory, and is constructed by:
• locating a version chain of a class for a serialized object in an instance block of an instance chain,
• wherein the version chain is a first hash chain with an immutable sequence of version blocks, and
• wherein the instance chain is a second hash chain with an immutable sequence of instance blocks including the instance block;
• comparing a class version of the serialized object to a current version of the class;
• when the class version of the serialized object matches the current version of the class, loading a runtime object by deserializing the serialized object;
• when the class version of the serialized object does not match the current version of the class:
• locating a version block in the immutable sequence of version blocks of the version chain that matches the class version of the serialized object;
• extracting one or more field values from the serialized object;
• applying a converter function from the version block to the one or more field values to generate one or more converted field values;
• and
• loading the runtime object that matches the current version with the one or more converted field values.

A system comprising:

• a memory coupled to a computer processor;
• the memory comprising a runtime object, wherein the runtime object executes on the computer processor, uses the memory, and is constructed by:
• locating a version chain of a class for a serialized object in an instance block of an instance chain,
• wherein the version chain is a first hash chain with an immutable sequence of version blocks, and
• wherein the instance chain is a second hash chain with an immutable sequence of instance blocks including the instance block;
• comparing a class version of the serialized object to a current version of the class;
• when the class version of the serialized object does not match the current version of the class:
• locating a version block in the immutable sequence of version blocks of the version chain that matches the class version of the serialized object;
• extracting one or more field values from the serialized object;
• applying a converter function from the version block to the one or more field values to generate one or more converted field values;
• applying a subsequent converter function to the one or more converted field values to generate the runtime object;
• and
• loading the runtime object that matches the current version with the one or more converted field values.