Learning Network Programming with Java

NIO support

The java.io, java.nio, and java.nio subpackages provide most of the Java support for IO processing. We will examine the support that these packages provide for network access in Chapter 3, NIO Support for Networking. Here, we will focus on the basic aspects of the java.nio package.

There are three key concepts used in the NIO package:

• Channel: This represents a stream of data between applications
• Buffer: This works with a channel to process data
• Selector: This is a technology that allows a single thread to handle multiple channels

A channel and a buffer are typically associated with each other. Data may be transferred from a channel to a buffer or from a buffer to a channel. The buffer, as its name implies, is a temporary repository for ...