device type in kernel

The road towards linux kernel is tough, some terminology also intuitive, here is some conclusion for devices, that treated differently in kernel.

Character devices

1. unbuffered, direct access to the hardware device
2. character device for a hard disk, require that all reads and writes are aligned to block boundaries and most certainly will not let you read a single byte
3. They do not necessarily allowed to read or write single characters at a time, that is up to the device in question

Block devices

1. buffered access to the hardware
2. block devices will always allow you to read or write any sized block you wish (including single characters/bytes) and are not subject to alignment restrictions
3. The downside is that because block devices are buffered, you do not know how long it will take before a write is pushed to the actual device itself; additionally, if the same hardware exposes both character and block devices, there is a risk of data corruption due to the clients using the character device being unaware of changes made in the buffers of the block device