Thread: I/O stream question?

Hey, just a basic theory question that the text isn't doing a fantastic job of explaining. I know that java I/O streams are used for reading/writing bytes, as opposed to the system.in and system.out which read text from the keyboard. I'm just not understanding the whole "file" idea. Is this program actually reading/writing information from files saves onto your computer? And if so, is it converting it from text, to byte form, and then back to text form again for display in your program? The prof didn't have time to teach this topic, and I'm finding it difficult to understand on my own.

Thanks a lot!

Oh, okay! So the whole purpose for streams is just because these files can be large, and using bytes helps shorten it down. Where exactly is this information going when we use streams, though?

Of course computers process everything as bits. I think you mean that in Java you can read and write data and files in different formats. You can save data in text files and in data files, for example. Depending on the file format you are reading you need different tools (java classes) to read them. After reading you still have to convert data into format that is suitable for you needs, String to int or something else. Normally you can read understandable text file with simple java tools like Scanner class. When reading binary data from files, devices, network or other sources you need some kind of I/O Stream Class to do it and then other Classes to convert the data into an understandable form.

So theoretically 0 & 1 are stored on HD to be read after. While the whole pictures or video are also stored on a HD but with a different form. When it is time to read it from a HD as 0 & 1, then they are found by names and addresses that identify the file name with the file form itself. Video, text, or picture format. I/O stream files performs these operations on your computer when asked by a user and their input on screen.

If I wanted to draw this picture on the others PC, it would open up as this UH_newlogo.jpg. UH_newlogo.jpg