File IO: Past, Present and Future
Guy Davidson
14:00-15:30, Thursday, 18th April 2024
File IO is a fundamental aspect of system programming. This talk will take you through forty years of file IO from the viewpoint of a game programmer trying to squeeze every last ounce of speed from their device. Along the way, expect answers to questions like:
Why do we have files?
What is a filesystem?
Why should we avoid buffered file IO?
How do we optimise unbuffered file IO?
How might the standard help us in future?
Guy Davidson
Guy Davidson has been writing games for most of his life now. He is a co-author of Beautiful C++. He serves on the ISO C++ standards committee and the UK programming languages standards committee. He plays the piano and sings quite a lot.