Why to use ByteArrayInputStream rather than byte[] in Java

Question

As I understand ByteArrayInputStream is used to read byte[] data. Why should I use it rather than simple byte[] (for example reading it from DB).

What is the different between them?

Answer 1

If the input is always a byte[], then you're right, there's often no need for the stream. And if you don't need it, don't use it. One additional advantage of a ByteArrayInputStream is that it serves as a very strong indication that you intend the bytes to be read-only (since the stream doesn't provide an interface for changing them), though it's important to note that a programmer can often still access the bytes directly, so you shouldn't use that in a situation where security is a concern.

But if it's sometimes a byte[], sometimes a file, sometimes a network connection, etc, then you need some sort of abstraction for "a stream of bytes, and I don't care where they come from." That's what an InputStream is. When the source happens to be a byte array, ByteArrayInputStream is a good InputStream to use.

This is helpful in many situations, but to give two concrete examples:

• You're writing a library that takes bytes and processes them somehow (maybe it's an image processing library, for instance). Users of your library may supply bytes from a file, or from a byte[] in memory, or from some other source. So, you provide an interface that accepts an InputStream — which means that if what they have is a byte[], they need to wrap it in a ByteArrayInputStream.
• You're writing code that reads a network connection. But to unit test that code, you don't want to have to open up a connection; you want to just supply some bytes in the code. So the code takes an InputStream, and your test provides a ByteArrayInputStream.

Answer 2

• A ByteArrayInputStream contains an internal buffer that contains bytes that may be read from the stream. An internal counter keeps track of the next byte to be supplied by the read method.
• ByteArrayInputStream is like wrapper which protects underlying array from external modification
• It has high order read ,mark ,skip functions

• A stream also has the advantage that you don't have to have all bytes in memory at the same time, which is convenient if the size of the data is large and can easily be handled in small chunks.

  Reference doc

• Where as if you choose byte[] ,then you have to generate wheels to do reading ,skipping and track current index explicitly

  byte data[] = { 65, 66, 67, 68, 69 }; // data
      for (int index = 0; index < data.length; index++) {
          System.out.print((char) data[index] + "   ");
      }
      int c = 0;
      ByteArrayInputStream bInput = new ByteArrayInputStream(data);
      while ((bInput.read()) != -1) {
          System.out.println(Character.toUpperCase((char) c));
      }
  

Answer 3

ByteArrayInputStream is a good wrapper for byte[], the core is understanding stream, a stream is an ordered sequence of bytes of indeterminate length.Input streams move bytes of data into a java program from some generally external source, in java io, you can decorate one stream to another stream to get more function. but the performance maybe bad. the power of the stream metaphor is that difference between these source and destinations are abstracted way,all input and output operations are simply traded as streams using the same class and the same method,you don not learn a new API for every different kind of device, the same API that read file can read network sockets,serial ports, Bluetooth transmissions, and more.