Ever wondered what actually happens when you visit Facebook's website? Or what's going on behind the scenes when you're playing a game of League of Legends with a person on the other side of the country? This course will provide a brief introduction to $$\textbf{data serialization}$$, the conversion of complex pieces of information into a sequence of bits that a computer program can process and send (usually over the internet) to another program to parse. Some are human-readable, such as HTTP, others are binary formats designed solely for speed, and many strike a balance between the two. We'll take a look at some of the more common protocols out there, learn how they work, and talk about why certain design decisions were made. Afterwards, we will try to design our own simple protocol for a specific use case.