function serialize(_obj)
{
   // Let Gecko browsers do this the easy way
   if (typeof _obj.toSource !== 'undefined' && typeof _obj.callee === 'undefined')
   {
      return _obj.toSource();
   }
 
   // Other browsers must do it the hard way
   switch (typeof _obj)
   {
      // numbers, booleans, and functions are trivial:
      // just return the object itself since its default .toString()
      // gives us exactly what we want
      case 'number':
      case 'boolean':
      case 'function':
         return _obj;
         break;
 
      // for JSON format, strings need to be wrapped in quotes
      case 'string':
         return '\'' + _obj + '\'';
         break;
 
      case 'object':
         var str;
         if (_obj.constructor === Array || typeof _obj.callee !== 'undefined')
         {
            str = '[';
            var i, len = _obj.length;
            for (i = 0; i < len-1; i++) { str += serialize(_obj[i]) + ','; }
            str += serialize(_obj[i]) + ']';
         }
         else
         {
            str = '{';
            var key;
            for (key in _obj) { str += key + ':' + serialize(_obj[key]) + ','; }
            str = str.replace(/\,$/, '') + '}';
         }
         return str;
         break;
 
      default:
         return 'UNKNOWN';
         break;
   }
}