revised: 10/05/03


on Reading Binary Files

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1. What abstract data type is the ancestor of all streams that input byte-oriented data?

A.    InputStream
B.    ByteInputStream
C.    BufferedByteInputStream
D.    ByteReader

2. Which of the following opens the file "myData.stuff" for Input?

A.    FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream( "myData.stuff", true)
B.    FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream( "myData.stuff")
C.    DataInputStream dis = new DataInputStream( "myData.stuff" )
D.    FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream( new BufferedInputStream( "myData.stuff") )

3. What is the DataInputStream method that reads an int value?

A.    ReadInt()
B.    ReadInteger()
C.    readInt()
D.    read()

4. Say that a file was created using many calls to DataOutputStream.writeInt(). Is it possible to read that file with DataInputStream.readDouble()?

A.    No---the hardware will not let this happen.
B.    No---the compiler will not let this happen.
C.    Yes--although the results almost certainly will be wrong.
D.    Yes--nothing wrong in doing that.

5. In practice, is it always possible to know how to interpret the bytes in a given file?

A.    No---because byte patterns can mean almost anything and often documentation is poor or missing.
B.    No---files from one type of computer can't be read by any other type.
C.    Yes--data and file formats are the same with all programs on all computers.
D.    Yes--all you need to do is try all possible interpretations until you find the one that works.

6. Is input and output with binary files slower or faster than with character-oriented files?

A.    Slower---because primitive data take more memory that characters.
B.    Slower---because primitive data must be translated into characters when doing IO.
C.    Faster---because binary data does not use a buffer.
D.    Faster---because binary data is more compact and does not need translation.

7. What data type does DataInputStream.readUnsignedByte() evaluate to?

A.    byte
B.    Byte
C.    int
D.    null

8. What happens when DataInputStream.readLong() reaches the end of the input file?

A.    Control automatically leaves the program.
B.    A null value is returned.
C.    The program crashes.
D.    An EOFException is thrown.

9. It it possible to make a copy of a file without knowing the format of the data it contains?

A.    No---you must know what each byte means in order to copy it to a file.
B.    No---files must have a header that describes the rest of the bytes.
C.    Yes--any file can be copied as long as all the data is the same type.
D.    Yes--a byte-by-byte copy works for all data.

10. What happens when the constructor for FileInputStream fails to open a file for reading?

A.    It returns null.
B.    It throws a FileNotFoundException.
C.    It throws a DataFormatException.
D.    It throws a ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException.

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