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

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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") )

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

a.    ReadInt()
b.    ReadInteger()
c.    readInt()
d.    read()

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

a.    byte
b.    Byte
c.    int
d.    null

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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.

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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.

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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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