[wiki:TutSimpleIOComments Leave Comments, Critiques, and Suggestions Here]

= Simple Input/Output with Tango =

Input, as well as output, are essential parts of almost every program. Tango provides a wide set of tools for a wide set of issues.

This tutorial refers to the usage of the Tango package `tango.io` (See [source:trunk/tango/io]). If you're unfamiliar with conduits and other IO principles, please see [wiki:ChapterIO the Chapter about IO in the Tango Reference Manual]


== Console I/O ==

While most programs may be graphical these days, console programs are still important...

=== Console Output ===
The simple way to do console output is via the `Console` package. In order to use it, import `tango.io.Console`.  This allows one to write a string directly to the standard output device, which is usually the console.  The following is a minimal `Hello World!` program in Tango:
{{{
#!d
import  tango.io.Console;

void	main()
{
   Cout("Hello, World").newline;
}
}}}

Note that the newline was needed not only to write a new line to the console, but also to flush the buffer.  Without the newline nothing would have printed (though you could have used `flush` instead of `newline`).  `Cout()` returns an instance of `Cout`, so you can chain arguments together thus:
{{{ 
#!d
Cout("Hello")(" ")("World").newline;
}}}

('''n.b.''' without a following set of parenthesis, `newline` ends the chaining process. This is an artifact of the compiler, rather than of Cout itself)

'''The Standard Error Stream:''' Note that there is a process analogous to `Cout` called `Cerr`.  Use it in the same way.  Do '''not''' expect it to be unbuffered.

=== Console Input ===

The next simplest program asks the user for some information.  This is a "What's your name?" program:

{{{
#!d
import	tango.io.Console;

void	main()
{
   char []	str;

   Cout("Hi There!").newline;
   Cout(" What's your name? ").flush;

   str = Cin.get();

   Cout("Well, hello, ")(str).newline;
}
}}}

The important thing here is the `Cin` object. In order to read a line into a string the `get()` method is used.

== File I/O ==

There are several ways to talk to a file, or let a file talk to your program. If you are interested in using files for logging, please see [wiki:TutLogging the Logging Tutorial].

=== Detailed File Information ===

=== File Creation ===

=== File Modification ===

=== File Conduit ===

=== Directories ===