Question

I want to read each line from a text file and store them in an ArrayList (each line being one entry in the ArrayList).

So far I understand that a BufferedInputStream writes to the buffer and only does another read once the buffer is empty which minimises or at least reduces the amount of operating system operations.

Am I correct – do I make sense?

If the above is the case in what situations would anyone want to use DataInputStream. And finally which of the two should I be using and why – or does it not matter.

Answer 1

Use a normal InputStream (e.g. FileInputStream) wrapped in an InputStreamReader and then wrapped in a BufferedReader – then call readLine on the BufferedReader.

DataInputStream is good for reading primitives, length-prefixed strings etc.