FileChannel

[Alan Bateman]

Marc Petit-Huguenin wrote:
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> Is there a reason why FileChannel does not extend
> AbstractSelectableChannel in JDK7?  I think that it would make sense
> now that there is a AsynchronousFileChannel implementation.
>
> AFAIK the change would not break compatibility.
>
> Thanks.
>   
FileChannel is intentionally not a SelectableChannel. In many cases it 
doesn't make sense to try to multiplex I/O with files because they are 
always ready for reading and writing. On other platforms it just isn't 
feasible because file I/O cannot be multiplexed. A future complication 
is that selectable channels are tied to a selector provider and so can 
be replaced independently of the file system provider. In jdk7, the file 
system provider is the factory for both FileChannels and 
AsynchronousFileChannels.

-Alan.