As someone recently pointed out to me, a basic question asked by a
novice might go to a deeper discussion.  Having been involved in both
software development and instruction, I know you think you know
something until you teach it, and you get these questions.  You come up
with answers, but then sense you have "hit bottom" in your own
understanding and know there is more.

A novice, looking over some material, saw fstream and filebuf being
used, and asked why there were two, which to use when, etc.  I answered
the question, but would be interested in hearing what others would say.

--Marian