IO Class Hierarchy

The formats used for integers are different on the two computers. To read the DEC file, the PC program must read one byte at a time and manipulate bit patterns to change the data into its own format.

The diagram shows the top of the hierarchy for the java.io package. The dotted clouds are abstract classes. They act as base classes for specialized streams (to be discussed shortly).

Streams are byte-oriented or character-oriented. Each type has input streams and output streams.

1. Byte-oriented streams.
   • Use for general-purpose input and output.
   • Data may be primitive data types or raw bytes.
2. Character-oriented streams.
   • Specialized for character data.
   • Transforms data from/to 16 bit Java char used inside programs to UTF format used externally.