Input and output in C++

Lecture 3 - Slide 16 : 27

Input and output in C++

File IO - including standard input and standard output - is supported via the libraries ostream and istream

Overloading of the operators >> ('get from') and << ('put to') is used for textual input and output respectively

The C++ Prog. Lang. (3. edition): Page 607, 613

Considerations about IO in C++
- IO functions must apply uniformly to pre-defined types and user-defined types
  - The C-style printf and scanf are not easy to generalize to user-defined functions
  - In addition, printf and scanf are not type safe
- Use of overloaded functions, such as put(data) and get(data)
  - repetitive and tedious in real-life situtions
  - s.put(d1); s.put(d2); s.put(d3); or
  - s.put(d1).put(d2).put(d3);
- Use of overloaded operators seems attractive
  - Shorter, and easier to spot
  - s << d1 << d2 << d3

The C++ Prog. Lang. (4. edition): formatted input with >>. Page 1082

The C++ Prog. Lang. (4. edition): output with <<. Page 1085