So far, you have worked exclusively with wired-in information. In this chapter, you learn how to work with information stored in text files. In particular, you learn how to read information from humanly readable text files. Later, in Chapter 33, you learn how to write information into humanly readable text files. In the intervening chapters, you learn how to work with information stored in arrays or vectors and you learn how to work with Java's exception mechanism. Then, in Chapter 34, you learn how to work with information stored efficiently, but not in a humanly readable form, in serialized files.