title: What does stream mean? What are its characteristics?
body: <p><strong>C++</strong> and <strong>C#</strong> both use the word <code>stream</code> to name many classes.</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li><strong>C++</strong>: <code>iostream</code>, <code>istream</code>, <code>ostream</code>, <code>stringstream</code>, <code>ostream_iterator</code>, <code>istream_iterator</code>...</li>
  <li><strong>C#</strong>:  <code>Stream</code>, <code>FileStream</code>,<code>MemoryStream</code>, <code>BufferedStream</code>...</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>So it made me curious to know, what does <code>stream</code> mean?
  What are the characteristics of a <code>stream</code>?
  When can I use this term to name my classes?
  Is this limited to file I/O classes only?</p>
  
  <p>Interestingly, <strong>C</strong> doesn’t use this word anywhere, as far as I know.</p>