What is the difference between C# network stream and memory stream in context of sockets?

Question

i want to transfer data over sockets and currently i am creating a memory stream.

i can also use a network stream.

Can anyone please help me understand the difference between c# network stream and memory stream?

Answer 1

According to my understanding, Network Stream reads from the network interface, where if you use a Memory Stream (I mean, in the same scenario), all the data will be loaded to memory first (I assume it reads to the end of the actual stream), then the read operations will read from memory.

The first read operation to occur on the Memory Stream, all the data needs to be loaded in to memory.

Where network stream, you can read the data as they arrive.

Answer 2

A NetworkStream is directly related to a socket; it does not know it's own length, you cannot seek, and the read/write functions are directly bound to the receive/send APIs (and therefore, read and write are entirely unrelated to eachother). It can timeout, and a read can take a considerable time if waiting for more data.

A MemoryStream is basically a wrapper over a local byte[]. It has a known length (which can change), you can seek, and read/write are directly related: both increment the same position cursor, and you can write something, rewind, and then read it. All operations are very timely.

It might be easier to ask "what are the similarities", which would be simply: both have a read/write API, by virtue of being subclasses of Stream.

Answer 3

both streams are derive of Stream, this classes are warper for different purpose