A Categorization Scheme for All Those Java I/O Stream Classes

The number of I/O stream classes in Java make it difficult for newbies to choose the right stream for a given application scenario. In his JavaBoutique.com article, Gurunath Kalamadi presents a very useful technique for conceptualizing the Java I/O stream classes, which you won't find it in any documentation.

He suggests separating the streams into two categories:

1. "Boundary" streams: Boundary stream classes have basic low-level I/O routines to carry out the I/O (interacting with the underlying operating system for I/O operations, if necessary).
2. "Intermediate" streams: Intermediate stream classes are "chained" to boundary stream classes, carrying out transformations on the data.

Read the full story with examples at JavaBoutique:
Java Programming Basics: I/O Streams