docarray · hanxiao · Mar 3, 2022 · Mar 3, 2022
diff --git a/docarray/array/mixins/__init__.py b/docarray/array/mixins/__init__.py
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@
 from .io.common import CommonIOMixin
 from .io.csv import CsvIOMixin
 from .io.dataframe import DataframeIOMixin
-from .io.dict import DictIOMixin
 from .io.from_gen import FromGeneratorMixin
 from .io.json import JsonIOMixin
 from .io.pushpull import PushPullMixin
@@ -42,7 +41,6 @@ class AllMixins(
     CsvIOMixin,
     JsonIOMixin,
     BinaryIOMixin,
-    DictIOMixin,
     CommonIOMixin,
     EmbedMixin,
     PushPullMixin,

diff --git a/docarray/array/mixins/io/dict.py b/docarray/array/mixins/io/dict.py
diff --git a/docarray/array/mixins/io/json.py b/docarray/array/mixins/io/json.py
@@ -99,3 +99,7 @@ def to_json(self, protocol: str = 'jsonschema', **kwargs) -> str:
         :return: a Python list
         """
         return json.dumps(self.to_list(protocol=protocol, **kwargs))
+
+    # to comply with Document interfaces but less semantically accurate
+    to_dict = to_list
+    from_dict = from_list
diff --git a/docs/fundamentals/documentarray/serialization.md b/docs/fundamentals/documentarray/serialization.md
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ Moreover, there is the ability to store/load `DocumentArray` objects to/from dis
 - Base64 (compressed): `.from_base64()`/`.to_base64()` 
 - Protobuf Message: `.from_protobuf()`/`.to_protobuf()`
 - Python List: `.from_list()`/`.to_list()`
-- Python Dict: `.from_dict()`/`.to_dict()`
 - Pandas Dataframe: `.from_dataframe()`/`.to_dataframe()`
 - Cloud: `.push()`/`.pull()`
 
@@ -325,25 +324,6 @@ da.to_list()
 More parameters and usages can be found in the Document-level {ref}`doc-dict`.
 ```
 
-
-## From/to dict
-
-
-Serializing to/from Python dict is less frequently used for the same reason as `Document.to_dict()`: it is often an intermediate step of serializing to JSON. You can do:
-
-```python
-from docarray import DocumentArray, Document
-
-da = DocumentArray([Document(text='hello'), Document(text='world')])
-da.to_dict()
-```
-
-```text
-{0: {'id': '3b31cb4c993f11ec8d12787b8ab3f5de', 'mime_type': 'text/plain', 'text': 'hello', 1: {'id': '3b31cca0993f11ec8d12787b8ab3f5de', 'mime_type': 'text/plain', 'text': 'world'}}```
-```
-
-
-
 ## From/to dataframe
 
 ```{important}

diff --git a/tests/unit/array/mixins/test_io.py b/tests/unit/array/mixins/test_io.py
@@ -172,34 +172,6 @@ def test_from_to_pd_dataframe(da_cls, config, start_storage):
     assert da2[1].tags == {}
 
 
-@pytest.mark.parametrize(
-    'da_cls, config',
-    [
-        (DocumentArrayInMemory, lambda: None),
-        (DocumentArraySqlite, lambda: None),
-        (DocumentArrayPqlite, lambda: PqliteConfig(n_dim=3)),
-        (DocumentArrayWeaviate, lambda: WeaviateConfig(n_dim=3)),
-        (DocumentArrayQdrant, lambda: QdrantConfig(n_dim=3)),
-    ],
-)
-def test_from_to_dict(da_cls, config, start_storage):
-    da_dict = da_cls.empty(2, config=config()).to_dict()
-    assert len(da_cls.from_dict(da_dict, config=config())) == 2
-
-    # more complicated
-    da = da_cls.empty(2, config=config())
-
-    da[:, 'embedding'] = [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]]
-    da[:, 'tensor'] = [[1, 2], [2, 1]]
-    da[0, 'tags'] = {'hello': 'world'}
-    da_dict = da.to_dict()
-
-    da2 = da_cls.from_dict(da_dict, config=config())
-
-    assert da2[0].tags == {'hello': 'world'}
-    assert da2[1].tags == {}
-
-
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     'da_cls, config',
     [

diff --git a/tests/unit/array/test_from_to_bytes.py b/tests/unit/array/test_from_to_bytes.py
@@ -95,21 +95,14 @@ def test_from_to_protobuf(target_da):
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize('target', [DocumentArray.empty(10), random_docs(10)])
 @pytest.mark.parametrize('protocol', ['jsonschema', 'protobuf'])
-@pytest.mark.parametrize('to_fn', ['list', 'json'])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('to_fn', ['dict', 'json'])
 def test_from_to_safe_list(target, protocol, to_fn):
     da_r = getattr(DocumentArray, f'from_{to_fn}')(
         getattr(target, f'to_{to_fn}')(protocol=protocol), protocol=protocol
     )
     assert da_r == target
 
 
-@pytest.mark.parametrize('target', [DocumentArray.empty(10), random_docs(10)])
-def test_from_to_safe_dict(target):
-    target_dict = getattr(target, f'to_dict')(target)
-    da_r = getattr(DocumentArray, f'from_dict')(target_dict)
-    assert da_r == target
-
-
 @pytest.mark.parametrize('protocol', ['protobuf', 'pickle'])
 @pytest.mark.parametrize('show_progress', [True, False])
 def test_push_pull_show_progress(show_progress, protocol):