IOStreams are provided in the C++ language as a component of a C++ standard class library that facilitate safe input and output. This book is needed by C++ programmers who want to do more than basic input/output. It will help programmers use iostreams effectively and implement or specialize their own iostreams. The book will be the foremost, single reference source for users of the iostreams at all levels.
Okay, the book is cheesy and written before even the designers of C++ knew how to use C++. Outdated now because it was written before the Standard Template Library but it was still the most valuable resource in our lab for figuring out how to work with streams. It also was written before APIs were freely available on the web and programmers had to learn the old fashioned way...passing around coffee stained, dog eared books until the pages were falling out of the binding.