Java: Difference between PrintStream and PrintWriter

Question

What is the difference between PrintStream and PrintWriter? They have many methods in common due to which I often mix these two classes up. Moreove

Answer 1

Since JDK 1.4 it's possible to specify the character encoding for a PrintStream. Thus, the differences between PrintStream and PrintWriter are only about auto flushing behavior and that a PrintStream cannot wrap a Writer.