What is the difference between limit and capacity in ByteBuffer?

Question

What is the difference between limit and capacity in Java\'s java.nio.ByteBuffer?

Answer 1

capacity is buffer's max size which is determined on buffer creation and never changes, limit is the actual size which can be changed. You cannot read or write beyond limit.

    ByteBuffer b= ByteBuffer.allocate(10); // capacity = 10, limit = 10
    b.limit(1);    //set limit to 1
    b.put((byte)1);
    b.put((byte)1); //causes java.nio.BufferOverflowException