Question

Is there any reason to prefer a CharBuffer to a char[] in the following:

CharBuffer buf = CharBuffer.allocate(DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE); while( in.read(buf) >= 0 ) {   out.append( buf.flip() );   buf.clear(); } 

vs.

char[] buf = new char[DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE]; int n; while( (n = in.read(buf)) >= 0 ) {   out.write( buf, 0, n ); } 

(where in is a Reader and out in a Writer)?

Answer 1

No, there’s really no reason to prefer a CharBuffer in this case.

In general, though, CharBuffer (and ByteBuffer) can really simplify APIs and encourage correct processing. If you were designing a public API, it’s definitely worth considering a buffer-oriented API.