Beginning C# 3.0

Chapter 13. Using Disk Data Files

This chapter shows you how to use disk data files. If you think about it, computers would lose much of their functionality if there wasn't a way to permanently store, or persist, the data generated by a computer. Things that we take for granted today, such as making an airline reservation, must have been a nightmare before computers were in widespread use. In this chapter, you will learn about the following:

• Two basic file types: text and binary

• The advantages and disadvantages of each file type

• Computer streams

• Sequential files

• Random access files

• Serialization and deserialization

• Multiple document interface (MDI) programs

• Writing program menus

Up to this point you have written programs whose usefulness ended when the program ended. Once you've mastered the contents of this chapter, you'll be able to write programs that can store data, enabling you to recall that data at some later time. Programs take on a whole new light when you know how to persist data.

Let's get started.