Java Streams (Input/Output)

Java provides very thorough support for I/O through a rich set of classes located in the java.io package.
There are two types of Java streams which were defined in the Java classical Streams before Java 8 was introduced.

1. input streams and
2. output streams.

Most of Java's stream classes are derived from the two fundamental stream classes,

1. InputStream and
2. OutputStream.

The Java Input/Output (I/O) framework has undergone several significant changes and improvements since the Java 1.0 model. Some of the most notable changes include:

1. New I/O APIs: The introduction of the java.nio package in Java 1.4 brought a new, non-blocking I/O API to the platform, which provided a more efficient and scalable way to perform I/O operations, especially for high-performance I/O-bound applications.
2. Improved Character Encoding Support: The java.io and java.nio packages have been updated to provide better support for international character encoding and decoding, making it easier to work with text in a variety of languages and scripts.
3. Stream-based I/O: The java.io package has been updated to use streams as a fundamental abstraction for I/O operations, providing a more flexible and consistent way to perform I/O operations.
4. Channel-based I/O: The java.nio package introduced the concept of channels, which provide a way to perform I/O operations directly on the underlying device, bypassing the operating system's I/O buffers and providing a more efficient and scalable way to perform I/O operations.
5. Asynchronous I/O: The java.nio.channels package introduced the concept of asynchronous I/O, which provides a way to perform I/O operations in a non-blocking manner, freeing up resources and providing a more scalable solution for I/O-bound applications.

Overall, these and other improvements have made the Java I/O framework more flexible, efficient, and scalable, enabling Java applications to better handle the challenges of I/O-bound processing.

These classes were introduced in Java 1.0.
In Java 1.1, a new set of I/O classes was added that is based on the Reader and Writer classes. These classes are functionally equivalent to InputStream and OutputStream, except that they support internationalization via the Unicode character set.
As of Java 2, both of these approaches to I/O are still supported. There are situations where you will need to use both sets of classes, so it's important to understand them both. Note: Internationalization involves developing programs that can use different character sets based on different human languages.