Struct member alignment for external data formats??

[Tony]

"Kagamin" <spam at here.lot> wrote in message 
news:gfk16c$1bmq$1 at digitalmars.com...
> Tony Wrote:
>
>> I'm reading a very old feature list of D and it says that D has struct
>> member alignment control "to ensure compatibility with externally imposed
>> data formats". So, questions: 1. How does one use that?
>
> align attribute

In my reading of D features, I thought I saw 3 alignment control mechanisms 
(?).

>
>> 2. Is it accepted
>> practice in D programming to write/read structs to/fro, say a disk file,
>> without marshalling?
>
> It's easy to use feature. Custom serialization is needed on a higher 
> level, say when saving "document".

So the answer then is 'yes'?

Others chime in too please, this is a key issue/feature (hehe, which is it? 
Speak your opinions!).

Tony