diff --git a/jackson/pom.xml b/jackson/pom.xml
index e898240..33eded5 100644
--- a/jackson/pom.xml
+++ b/jackson/pom.xml
@@ -32,6 +32,18 @@
             <artifactId>jackson-databind</artifactId>
             <version>2.15.1</version>
         </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId>
+            <artifactId>junit-jupiter-engine</artifactId>
+            <version>5.8.2</version>
+            <scope>test</scope>
+        </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId>
+            <artifactId>junit-jupiter-api</artifactId>
+            <version>5.8.2</version>
+            <scope>test</scope>
+        </dependency>
     </dependencies>
 
 </project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/jackson/src/main/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/ListSerializer.java b/jackson/src/main/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/ListSerializer.java
index 33a7407..058cb73 100644
--- a/jackson/src/main/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/ListSerializer.java
+++ b/jackson/src/main/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/ListSerializer.java
@@ -7,24 +7,30 @@ import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ser.std.StdSerializer;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Iterator;
 
-public class ListSerializer<E> extends StdSerializer<ContiguousList<E>> {
+public class ListSerializer<E> extends StdSerializer<ContiguousList> {
 
-    public ListSerializer(Class<ContiguousList<E>> t) {
-        super(t);
+    public ListSerializer() {
+        super(ContiguousList.class);
     }
 
     @Override
     public void serialize(
-            ContiguousList<E> value, JsonGenerator jgen, SerializerProvider provider)
+            ContiguousList clist, JsonGenerator generator, SerializerProvider provider)
             throws IOException, JsonProcessingException {
-//        value.
+        generator.writeStartArray();
 
-//        jgen.writeStartObject();
-//        jgen.writeNumberField("id", value.id);
-//        jgen.writeStringField("itemName", value.itemName);
-//        jgen.writeNumberField("owner", value.owner.id);
-//        jgen.writeEndObject();
+        if (clist.isSimpleElementType()){
+            Iterator<?> iterator = clist.valueIterator();
+            while (iterator.hasNext()){
+                generator.writeString(iterator.next().toString());
+            }
+        } else {
+
+        }
+
+        generator.writeEndArray();
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/jackson/src/test/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/AdamsObject.java b/jackson/src/test/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/AdamsObject.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..48421aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jackson/src/test/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/AdamsObject.java
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+package nl.sanderhautvast.contiguous;
+
+public class AdamsObject {
+    private String name;
+
+    public AdamsObject() {
+    }
+
+    public AdamsObject(String name) {
+        this.name = name;
+    }
+
+    public String getName() {
+        return name;
+    }
+
+    public void setName(String name) {
+        this.name = name;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/jackson/src/test/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/ListSerializerTest.java b/jackson/src/test/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/ListSerializerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f5f321
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jackson/src/test/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/ListSerializerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+package nl.sanderhautvast.contiguous;
+
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.module.SimpleModule;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*;
+
+class ListSerializerTest {
+
+
+    private ObjectMapper mapper;
+
+    @BeforeEach
+    public void setup(){
+        mapper = new ObjectMapper();
+        final SimpleModule module = new SimpleModule("mySerializers");
+        module.addSerializer(new ListSerializer<>());
+        mapper.registerModule(module);
+    }
+    @Test
+    public void testStringList() throws JsonProcessingException {
+        ContiguousList<String> strings = new ContiguousList<>(String.class);
+        strings.add("Vogon constructor fleet");
+        strings.add("Restaurant at the end of the Galaxy");
+        strings.add("Publishing houses of Ursa Minor");
+
+        String json = mapper.writeValueAsString(strings);
+        assertEquals("[\"Vogon constructor fleet\"," +
+                        "\"Restaurant at the end of the Galaxy\"," +
+                        "\"Publishing houses of Ursa Minor\"]",
+                json);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testObjectList() throws JsonProcessingException {
+        ContiguousList<AdamsObject> strings = new ContiguousList<>(AdamsObject.class);
+        strings.add(new AdamsObject("Vogon constructor fleet"));
+        strings.add(new AdamsObject("Restaurant at the end of the Galaxy"));
+        strings.add(new AdamsObject("Publishing houses of Ursa Minor"));
+
+
+
+        String json = mapper.writeValueAsString(strings);
+        assertEquals("[{\"name\":\"Vogon constructor fleet\"}," +
+                        "{\"name\":\"Restaurant at the end of the Galaxy\"}," +
+                        "{\"name\":\"Publishing houses of Ursa Minor\"}]",
+                json);
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/jdbc/pom.xml b/jdbc/pom.xml
index c78116e..0244b46 100644
--- a/jdbc/pom.xml
+++ b/jdbc/pom.xml
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@
             <version>5.8.2</version>
             <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
-        <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.mockito/mockito-junit-jupiter -->
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.mockito</groupId>
             <artifactId>mockito-junit-jupiter</artifactId>
diff --git a/lib/src/main/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/BuiltinTypeHandler.java b/lib/src/main/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/BuiltinTypeHandler.java
index a424479..2e8eff9 100644
--- a/lib/src/main/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/BuiltinTypeHandler.java
+++ b/lib/src/main/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/BuiltinTypeHandler.java
@@ -24,6 +24,11 @@ public abstract class BuiltinTypeHandler<T> extends TypeHandler {
      */
     public abstract void store(T value, ContiguousList<?> list);
 
+    @Override
+    public boolean isBuiltin() {
+        return true;
+    }
+
     void storePropertyValue(Object instance, ContiguousList<?> typedList) {
         T propertyValue = getValue(instance);
         store(propertyValue, typedList);
diff --git a/lib/src/main/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/CompoundTypeHandler.java b/lib/src/main/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/CompoundTypeHandler.java
index ca7ccc9..72ef743 100644
--- a/lib/src/main/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/CompoundTypeHandler.java
+++ b/lib/src/main/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/CompoundTypeHandler.java
@@ -26,4 +26,8 @@ class CompoundTypeHandler extends TypeHandler {
     }
 
 
+    @Override
+    public boolean isBuiltin() {
+        return false;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/lib/src/main/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/ContiguousList.java b/lib/src/main/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/ContiguousList.java
index bda42b1..ee35c3e 100644
--- a/lib/src/main/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/ContiguousList.java
+++ b/lib/src/main/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/ContiguousList.java
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import java.util.*;
 //notes:
 // should find out growth factor of arraylist
 // investigate data array reuse (pooling, SoftReferences etc)
+// is all this inner class usage not wasteful? (references to this etc)
 
 /**
  * Short for Contiguous Layout List, an Experimental List implementation
@@ -66,9 +67,16 @@ public class ContiguousList<E> extends NotImplementedList<E> implements List<E>
 
     private TypeHandler rootHandler;
 
+    private final Map<String, Integer> propertyNames;
+
     public ContiguousList(Class<E> type) {
         inspectType(type);
-        elementIndices[0] = currentElementValueIndex; // index of first element
+        elementIndices[0] = 0; // index of first element
+        propertyNames = findPropertyNames();
+    }
+
+    public Class<?> getElementType() {
+        return rootHandler.getType();
     }
 
     /*
@@ -80,7 +88,7 @@ public class ContiguousList<E> extends NotImplementedList<E> implements List<E>
      * object graph. It only knows the 'primitive' values.
      */
     private void inspectType(Class<?> type) {
-        if (PropertyHandlerFactory.isKnownType(type)) {
+        if (PropertyHandlerFactory.isBuiltInType(type)) {
             this.rootHandler = PropertyHandlerFactory.forType(type);
         } else {
             CompoundTypeHandler compoundType = new CompoundTypeHandler(type, null);//TODO revisit
@@ -93,6 +101,9 @@ public class ContiguousList<E> extends NotImplementedList<E> implements List<E>
         }
     }
 
+    /*
+     * using reflection find all properties in the element, recursing down when the property is compound
+     */
     private void addPropertyHandlersForCompoundType(Class<?> type, CompoundTypeHandler parentCompoundType) throws IllegalAccessException {
         final MethodHandles.Lookup lookup = MethodHandles.privateLookupIn(type, MethodHandles.lookup());
         Arrays.stream(type.getDeclaredFields())
@@ -102,7 +113,7 @@ public class ContiguousList<E> extends NotImplementedList<E> implements List<E>
                         MethodHandle getter = lookup.findGetter(type, field.getName(), fieldType);
                         MethodHandle setter = lookup.findSetter(type, field.getName(), fieldType);
 
-                        if (PropertyHandlerFactory.isKnownType(fieldType)) {
+                        if (PropertyHandlerFactory.isBuiltInType(fieldType)) {
                             BuiltinTypeHandler<?> primitiveType = PropertyHandlerFactory.forType(fieldType, field.getName(), getter, setter);
 
                             parentCompoundType.addHandler(field.getName(), primitiveType);
@@ -126,7 +137,7 @@ public class ContiguousList<E> extends NotImplementedList<E> implements List<E>
         if (element == null) {
             return false;
         }
-        getProperties(element, rootHandler);
+        storePropertyData(element, rootHandler);
         size += 1;
 
         // keep track of where the objects are stored
@@ -137,7 +148,13 @@ public class ContiguousList<E> extends NotImplementedList<E> implements List<E>
         return true;
     }
 
-    private void getProperties(Object element, TypeHandler typeHandler) {
+    /*
+     * Stores the properties
+     *
+     * walks the object graph depth-first. The order of the stored data is crucial, because only
+     * leaf elements are stored and all information on what object owns what is implicit.
+     */
+    private void storePropertyData(Object element, TypeHandler typeHandler) {
         if (typeHandler instanceof BuiltinTypeHandler<?>) {
             ((BuiltinTypeHandler<?>) typeHandler).storePropertyValue(element, this);
         } else {
@@ -149,7 +166,7 @@ public class ContiguousList<E> extends NotImplementedList<E> implements List<E>
                     CompoundTypeHandler child = ((CompoundTypeHandler) property);
                     try {
                         Object result = child.getGetter().invoke(element);
-                        getProperties(result, child);
+                        storePropertyData(result, child);
                     } catch (Throwable e) {
                         throw new RuntimeException(e);
                     }
@@ -184,7 +201,7 @@ public class ContiguousList<E> extends NotImplementedList<E> implements List<E>
             E newInstance = (E) rootHandler.getType().getDeclaredConstructor().newInstance();
 
             // set the data
-            setProperties(newInstance, (CompoundTypeHandler) rootHandler);
+            copyDataIntoNewObjects(newInstance, (CompoundTypeHandler) rootHandler);
 
             return newInstance;
         } catch (NoSuchMethodException | InstantiationException | IllegalAccessException |
@@ -193,7 +210,10 @@ public class ContiguousList<E> extends NotImplementedList<E> implements List<E>
         }
     }
 
-    private void setProperties(Object element, CompoundTypeHandler compoundType) {
+    /*
+     *
+     */
+    private void copyDataIntoNewObjects(Object element, CompoundTypeHandler compoundType) {
         compoundType.getProperties().forEach(property -> {
             if (property instanceof BuiltinTypeHandler) {
                 BuiltinTypeHandler<?> type = ((BuiltinTypeHandler<?>) property);
@@ -208,7 +228,7 @@ public class ContiguousList<E> extends NotImplementedList<E> implements List<E>
                     p.getSetter().invokeWithArguments(element, newInstance);
 
                     // recurse down
-                    setProperties(newInstance, p);
+                    copyDataIntoNewObjects(newInstance, p);
                 } catch (Throwable e) {
                     throw new RuntimeException(e);
                 }
@@ -231,16 +251,37 @@ public class ContiguousList<E> extends NotImplementedList<E> implements List<E>
         return new ValueIterator();
     }
 
+    public Iterator<Property> propertyIterator() {
+        return new PropertyIterator();
+    }
+
+    static class Property {
+        String name;
+        String value;
+    }
+
+    static class PropertyIterator implements Iterator<Property> {
+
+        @Override
+        public boolean hasNext() {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Property next() {
+            return null;
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * @return a list of types in the Object(graph). So the element type and all (nested) properties
      */
-    public List<Class<?>> getTypes() {
+    List<Class<?>> getTypes() {
         final List<Class<?>> types = new ArrayList<>();
         getTypes(rootHandler, types);
         return types;
     }
 
-
     private void getTypes(TypeHandler handler, List<Class<?>> types) {
         if (handler instanceof BuiltinTypeHandler<?>) {
             types.add(handler.getType());
@@ -251,6 +292,62 @@ public class ContiguousList<E> extends NotImplementedList<E> implements List<E>
         }
     }
 
+    public List<String> getPropertyNames() {
+        return new ArrayList<>(this.propertyNames.keySet());//TODO should be SET!
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * walk the tree of typehandlers to find the names
+     * adds an index to know what index a property has
+     * this in turn is needed to find where the data of the property is in the byte array
+     *
+     * could also store property data indices, but that would incur more memory overhead
+     * the way it is now, we have to iterate all properties in an element. ie. a tradeoff
+     */
+    private Map<String, Integer> findPropertyNames() {
+        // no name for the root property
+        final Map<String, Integer> names = new HashMap<>();
+        if (rootHandler instanceof CompoundTypeHandler) {
+            ((CompoundTypeHandler) rootHandler).getProperties()
+                    .forEach(propertyHandler -> findPropertyNames(propertyHandler, names, 0));
+        }
+
+        return Collections.unmodifiableMap(names);
+    }
+
+
+    /*
+     * TODO
+     * // oopsie: the properties are not guaranteed to be unique
+     */
+    private void findPropertyNames(TypeHandler handler, Map<String, Integer> names, int index) {
+        if (handler instanceof BuiltinTypeHandler<?>) {
+            names.put(handler.getName(), index);
+        } else {
+            names.put(handler.getName(), index);
+            for (TypeHandler propertyHandler : ((CompoundTypeHandler) handler).getProperties()) {
+                findPropertyNames(propertyHandler, names, index++);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * gets a named property of element at index
+     *
+     * @param index        elementIndex
+     * @param propertyName the name of the property
+     * @return the property value
+     */
+    public Object getValue(int index, String propertyName) {
+        if (rootHandler.isBuiltin() || propertyName == null) {
+            data.position(elementIndices[index]);
+            return ValueReader.read(data);
+        } else {
+            return null; //TODO implement
+        }
+    }
+
+
     List<BuiltinTypeHandler<?>> getBuiltinTypeHandlers() {
         final List<BuiltinTypeHandler<?>> types = new ArrayList<>();
         getStoredTypes(rootHandler, types);
@@ -307,6 +404,10 @@ public class ContiguousList<E> extends NotImplementedList<E> implements List<E>
         }
     }
 
+    public boolean isSimpleElementType() {
+        return PropertyHandlerFactory.isBuiltInType(rootHandler.getType());
+    }
+
     /**
      * Allows 'iterating insertion of data'. Returns an iterator of Setter
      * Does not work for compound types yet
@@ -334,8 +435,6 @@ public class ContiguousList<E> extends NotImplementedList<E> implements List<E>
         }
     }
 
-    // TODO proper naming
-    // BTW do we even need this as a class??
     public class SetterIterator implements Iterator<Setter> {
         private final List<Setter> properties = new ArrayList<>();
         private Iterator<Setter> currentSetterIterator;
@@ -352,7 +451,7 @@ public class ContiguousList<E> extends NotImplementedList<E> implements List<E>
         @Override
         public boolean hasNext() {
             boolean hasNext = currentSetterIterator.hasNext();
-            if (!hasNext){
+            if (!hasNext) {
                 extend(); // marks the end of an object
             }
             return hasNext;
@@ -397,12 +496,6 @@ public class ContiguousList<E> extends NotImplementedList<E> implements List<E>
     public boolean isEmpty() {
         return size == 0;
     }
-
-    @Override
-    public Iterator<E> iterator() {
-        return new ElementIterator<>();
-    }
-
     @Override
     public Object[] toArray() {
         Object[] objects = new Object[size];
@@ -424,16 +517,24 @@ public class ContiguousList<E> extends NotImplementedList<E> implements List<E>
         return ts;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Standard Iterator that conforms to the protocol of java.util.List.
+     * Although it's convenient to use, it's not the best way to read from the list because it
+     * needs the Reflection API to instantiate new objects of the element type.
+     * <p/>.
+     * @return An Iterator over the elements in the List
+     */
+    @Override
+    public Iterator<E> iterator() {
+        return new StandardElementIterator<>();
+    }
 
-    class ElementIterator<F> implements Iterator<F> {
+    /*
+     * Iterator used by the standard Iterator() method
+     */
+    class StandardElementIterator<F> implements Iterator<F> {
 
         private int curIndex = 0;
-        private final int originalSize;
-
-        ElementIterator() {
-            this.originalSize = size;
-            data.position(0);
-        }
 
         @Override
         public boolean hasNext() {
@@ -470,12 +571,6 @@ public class ContiguousList<E> extends NotImplementedList<E> implements List<E>
         }
     }
 
-    // to be called by framework to force element count
-    // used by SetterIterator
-    void extend() {
-        size += 1;
-    }
-
     void storeLong(Long value) {
         if (value == null) {
             store0();
@@ -534,6 +629,12 @@ public class ContiguousList<E> extends NotImplementedList<E> implements List<E>
         }
     }
 
+    // to be called by framework to force element count
+    // used by SetterIterator
+    void extend() {
+        size += 1;
+    }
+
     byte[] getData() {
         return Arrays.copyOfRange(data.array(), 0, currentElementValueIndex);
     }
diff --git a/lib/src/main/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/PropertyHandlerFactory.java b/lib/src/main/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/PropertyHandlerFactory.java
index 2fd96aa..d8cf82b 100644
--- a/lib/src/main/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/PropertyHandlerFactory.java
+++ b/lib/src/main/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/PropertyHandlerFactory.java
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ final class PropertyHandlerFactory {
         //LocalDate/time
     }
 
-    public static boolean isKnownType(Class<?> type) {
+    public static boolean isBuiltInType(Class<?> type) {
         return TYPE_HANDLERS.containsKey(type);
     }
 
diff --git a/lib/src/main/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/TypeHandler.java b/lib/src/main/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/TypeHandler.java
index 70a9e34..c2df578 100644
--- a/lib/src/main/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/TypeHandler.java
+++ b/lib/src/main/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/TypeHandler.java
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ public abstract class TypeHandler {
         this.setter = setter;
     }
 
+    public abstract boolean isBuiltin();
+
     void setGetter(MethodHandle getter) {
         this.getter = getter;
     }
diff --git a/lib/src/test/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/ContiguousListTest.java b/lib/src/test/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/ContiguousListTest.java
index dbc7126..2f7cf4f 100644
--- a/lib/src/test/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/ContiguousListTest.java
+++ b/lib/src/test/java/nl/sanderhautvast/contiguous/ContiguousListTest.java
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ public class ContiguousListTest {
 
     @Test
     public void testGetStoredTypesDeepCompound() {
-        ContiguousList<DeepBean> beans = new ContiguousList<>(DeepBean.class);
+        final ContiguousList<DeepBean> beans = new ContiguousList<>(DeepBean.class);
         Iterator<Class<?>> typeIterator = beans.getTypes().iterator();
         assertTrue(typeIterator.hasNext());
         assertEquals(DeepBean.class, typeIterator.next());
@@ -256,4 +256,27 @@ public class ContiguousListTest {
             assertEquals(Integer.class, typeIterator.next());
         }
     }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testGetPropertyNamesForBuiltinElementType(){
+        ContiguousList<Integer> integers = new ContiguousList<>(Integer.class);
+        assertTrue(integers.getPropertyNames().isEmpty());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testGetPropertyNames(){
+        ContiguousList<IntBean> integers = new ContiguousList<>(IntBean.class);
+        assertFalse(integers.getPropertyNames().isEmpty());
+        assertEquals("value", integers.getPropertyNames().get(0));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testGetMorePropertyNames(){
+        ContiguousList<NestedBean> integers = new ContiguousList<>(NestedBean.class);
+        assertFalse(integers.getPropertyNames().isEmpty());
+        assertEquals("stringBean", integers.getPropertyNames().get(0));
+        assertEquals("name", integers.getPropertyNames().get(1));
+        assertEquals("intBean", integers.getPropertyNames().get(2));
+        assertEquals("value", integers.getPropertyNames().get(3));
+    }
 }