I am working on a snake game and i was wondering what this does in java
private static final long serialVersionUID = -1102632585936750607L;

Question

I am working on a snake game and i was wondering what this does in java 
private static final long serialVersionUID = -1102632585936750607L;

anonymous · Answer

Hmmm... let me see

konradzuse · Answer

It has to do with giving your program some sort of ID... I read briefly about it... Not sure it's needed at all...

anonymous · Answer

The serial version UID is used during serialization (e.g. ObjectInputStream, etc.) to provide "versioning" for types of objects. Attempting to read a serialized object whose UID does not match the version of it's associated class will fail; it's a means of providing a way to "version" serialized objects.