17.3 Using the Console

An application receives input from the console and displays characters on the screen through either the File I/O functions or the Console functions. With either functions, the console buffers are accessed through handles to Standard Input and Standard Output. The File functions allow you to read keyboard input and write characters to the screen or console window at the current cursor location. The Console functions enable direct access to the input buffer to read and write keyboard, mouse, and window size events. They also provide direct access to output buffers to enable expanded capabilities for reading, writing, scrolling, and highlighting characters at any location in the console window.