[nottorp]

So what's the point of using Java then? Of course I can do it in a non GC language using a buffer that holds one line and as much memory as needed for the data I want to retain...

[AtlasBarfed]

Not having to worry about memory for 99% of the time.

Having to do research to optimize I/O is not just a java thing. As stated before in this thread, the C stdlib isn't historically great either, and a lot of languages piggyback on that.

Modern I/O is almost always a different library and you need to do reasearch.

[kuschku]

Direct Buffers are a Java API to directly use C buffers and access them in a fast way. They're the fastest way to handle memory in Java.