iano10x
Input && Output, Part 1.

Photo by Umberto on Unsplash

Input && Output, Part 1.

Introduction to Input && Output

iano's photo
iano

Table of contents

Input and Output (I/O) is one of the basic functions of a computing device.

If we consider the result of all programming to be telling hardware what to do:

  • Under the hood of the computing device, input is received and processed then output is generated.

  • In programming, I/O operations guide how data is manipulated to produce relevant outcomes.

I/O Rules

I/O operations are straightforward:

  1. Input comes from the standard input device, i.e: stdin.

  2. Output is generated by the standard output device, i.e: stdout.

I/O Devices

Conventionally, stdin is the keyboard but the input can also be redirected by the OS to make it come from a device like a WiFi router/modem or from a file, while stdout is the display, but the output can be redirected so that it goes to another device, such as a printer or into a file.

io