- virtual int write( char *buf, int length );
- virtual int writestring( char *str );
+
+
+ /**
+ * The write() method is modeled after the write() Unix system
+ * call and is analogous to the read() method. You provide a
+ * pointer to a buffer of data, and then length of that data to be
+ * written out. The number of bytes written is returned.
+ * @param buf a char pointer to your output buffer
+ * @param length number of bytes to write
+ * @return number of bytes written
+ */
+ virtual int write( const char *buf, const int length );
+
+ /**
+ * The writestring() method is a simple wrapper that will
+ * calculate the length of a null terminated character array and
+ * write it to the output channel.
+ * @param buf a char pointer to your output buffer
+ * @return number of bytes written
+ */
+ virtual int writestring( const char *str );
+
+ /**
+ * The close() method is modeled after the close() Unix system
+ * call and will close an open device. You should call this method
+ * when you are done using your IO class, before it is destructed.
+ * @return result of close
+ */