.NET Programming: A Practical Guide Using C#

Streams

A common programming task is to read data from or write data to files, network sockets, or some other devices. The BCL formalizes this behavior by means of an abstract class Stream (namespace System.IO). Table 5.2 shows some frequently used methods available on this class.

Table 5.2. Some Methods Available on System.IO.Stream

Method	Description
CanSeek	Can you seek to a position within the stream?
CanRead	Can the stream be read?
CanWrite	Can the stream be written to?
Length	Length of the stream.
Position	Current cursor position.
Seek	Seek to a position.
Read	Read bytes from the stream.
Write	Write bytes to the stream.
Flush	Flush any buffered data to the underlying device.
Close	Close the stream and release any resources (such as sockets and file handles). ...