A stream is a sequence of bytes. A stream is a general name given to a flow of data. Different streams are used to represent different kinds of data flow. Each stream is associated with a particular class,which contains member functions and definitions for dealing with that particular kind of data flow. The stream that supplies data to the program in known as input stream. It reads the data from the file and hands it over to the program. The stream that receives data from the program is known as output stream. It writes the received data to the file.Following figure illustrates it.
When the main function of your program is invoked, it already has three predefined streams open and available for use. These represent the "standard" input and output channels that have been established for the process.
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Famous quotes containing the word stream:
“Ask me no more: thy fate and mine are sealed;
I strove against the stream and all in vain;
Let the great river take me to the main.
No more, dear love, for at a touch I yield;
Ask me no more.”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)
“I have ventured
Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders,
This many summers in a sea of glory,
But far beyond my depth. My high-blown pride
At length broke under me and now has left me,
Weary and old with service, to the mercy
Of a rude stream that must forever hide me.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Man is in part divine,
A troubled stream from a pure source;
And Man in portions can foresee
His own funereal destiny;”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)