Why is failbit () installed?

Question

Create a file and fill it with zeros:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/tmp/zeroes count=1

Write this little program to extract the first unsigned integer that it encounters in the file.

#include <assert.h>
#include <fstream>

int main()
{
    std::ifstream reader( "/tmp/zeroes", std::ios_base::binary );
    uint32_t number;
    reader >> number;

    assert( !reader.fail() );
}

Why is assert initiated?

Answer 1

Because it /dev/zerosupplies binary zeros, not a character '0', but >>performs (or tries to) convert from text.