getline while reading a file vs reading whole file and then splitting based on newline character

Question

I want to process each line of a file on a hard-disk now. Is it better to load a file as a whole and then split on basis of newline character (using boost), or is it better

Answer 1

The OS will read a whole block of data (depending on how the disk is formatted, typically 4-8k at a time) and do some of the buffering for you. Let the OS take care of it for you, and read the data in the way that makes sense for your program.