Sybex CSG 17/Sybex 829: Method signature is missing void keyword in table 14.11 on page 839

[Konstantin Müller]

Table 14.11 on page 839 lists a method signature that marks the current position in a stream as follows:

public mark(int readLimit)

This version is correct:

public void mark(int readLimit)

[Campbell Ritchie]

Welcome to the Ranch

But that isn't the method signature; the signature of that method is mark(int). The modifiers and return type don't form part of the signature.

[Mike Simmons]

True, though beside the point.  Does the book refer to this as a "signature", I wonder?  Hopefully not.  Regardless, if they're showing the "public" part, they should be showing "void" as well.

[Konstantin Müller]

You are both right. I was wrong. It isn’t the signature because they are showing the public modifier everywhere.

This is how the table (TABLE 14.11: Common I/O stream methods) looks like:

Method name	Description
public boolean markSupported()	Returns true if stream class supports mark()
public mark(int readLimit)	Marks current position in stream
public void reset()	Attempts to reset stream to mark() position
public long skip(long n)	Returns and discards specified number of characters

[Campbell Ritchie]

I would say the last method description is a bit confusing. If you look up InputStream#skip(long), you will find that you pass the number of bytes you want to skip, and the method returns the number of bytes actually skipped, which might be different. More information in that link.

[Mike Simmons]

Good point.  It is a very brief summary, designed for limited space.  But the "returns" part is just plain wrong - it doesn't return any skipped characters.  Perhaps "Attempts to skip past the specified number of characters" would be better.  Don't mention the return unless you can say what it's returning.

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Confirmed and added to errata. The intent was definitely to include void there; just like we did on the next line for reset()