C++ newbie: good resources (books) for learning about streams?

Question

I would like to learn about streams in C++. I have done some googling and searching on Amazon and have not had any success in finding a book/web resource on this topic. Any suggestions would be much appreciated! I have found some information on sites like cplusplus and forums, but I'm still still unclear about a number of issues. I would really like a clear, comprehensive resource.

One thing that I would like to do is get input for my programs from external files.

Thank you for any suggestions.

You probably haven't found a book because the topic of "streams" isn't big enough for a book. Learning to read an external file with an `ifstream` should require a few pages of documentation at most. — user229044, Feb 02 '11 at 14:28
Hi meagar. That's what I thought at first, but the texts I have don't go into enough detail. I would like to find out how data() and c_str() work and how they differ, for example. I can't find any online resources that make sense to me. — Ant, Feb 02 '11 at 14:39
@meagar: [Really not enough for a book?](http://books.google.com/books?isbn=0201183951) — Fred Nurk, Feb 02 '11 at 15:13
@Fred I would guess that only a few pages are about streams, and the rest is about locals :p — user229044, Feb 02 '11 at 15:16

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:26

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Standard C++ IOStreams and locales by Langer and Kreft is dedicated to streams (and locales, which streams use extensively), but it sounds like you want a general overview as you'd find in a general reference or introductory book.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:26

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answered Feb 02 '11 at 15:16

Fred Nurk

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score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 02 '11 at 14:36

I don't know of a book that deals with streams as its major subject. I'm sure you can find a lot of resources on the Internet, but judging their quality may be difficult. The following two books have rather good coverage of streams and might be work looking into. Of course they cover a lot more than just streams.

The C++ Programming Language by Bjarne Stroustrup
The C++ Standard Library: A Tutorial and Reference by Nicholai Josuttis

Thanks Dr. Watson. Much appreciated. – Ant Feb 02 '11 at 14:39 — Ant, Feb 02 '11 at 14:39

C++ newbie: good resources (books) for learning about streams?

2 Answers2