Introducing streams
In the simplest terms, a stream is a sequence of bytes transferred in one direction from its source to its target. We have already discussed the abstract concept of an execution stream, or the flow of compiled central processing unit (CPU) instructions from memory to the CPU. An execution stream is created when we successfully compile our source code files into an executable file. It is initiated when the program is invoked from the command line and flows until the program stops.
In the console, the input stream transfers bytes—in this case, characters—from the keyboard to our program's memory. The console's output stream transfers characters from our program's memory to the screen. A console, therefore, consists of a keyboard source stream for input and a screen destination stream for output. We can think of it simply as a pair of I/O streams.
The standard console is enhanced by...
