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Asked: 2026-05-27T22:21:19+00:00

I’m working on a program that modifies a file, and I’m wondering if the

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I’m working on a program that modifies a file, and I’m wondering if the way I’m working with it is wrong.

The file is stored in blocks inside another file and is separated by a bunch of hashes. It’s only about 1mb in size, so I just calculate its location once and read it into a byte array and work with it like that.

I’m wondering if it’s some kind of horrendous programming habit to a read an entire file, despite its size, into a byte array in memory. It is the sole purpose of my program though and is about the only memory it takes up.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    This depends entirely on the expected size (range) of the files you will be reading in. If your input files can reach over a hundred MB in size, this approach doesn’t make much sense.

    If your input files are small relative to the memory of machines your software will run on, and your program design benefits from having the entire contents in memory, then it’s not horrendous; it’s sensible.

    However, if your software doesn’t actually require the entire file’s contents in memory, then there’s not much of an argument for doing this (even for smaller files.)

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