The java.io package exposes a number of classes and interfaces that provide useful abstractions on top of the character and byte reading and writing operations defined by InputStream and OutputStream.

I've googled around, and I can't find any info on why java.net.URLConnection is abysmally slow. I have observed the problem on os x (with java 1.4.2), linux, and pocket pc (running ibm's j9). It ...