What difference between readString and while loop read

Question

From Arduino code, I have a question for SoftwareSerial Class

First: when I use more example for Esp8266 those functions use while loop to read response string from Esp when we send AT_Command to ESP.

getResponse(const uint32_t  wait) {
    String tmpData = "";
    long int time = millis();
    while ((time + wait) > millis()) {
        while (esp8266->available() > 0) {
            char c = esp8266->read();
            if (c == '\0') continue;
            tmpData += c;
        }
    }   
    tmpData.trim();
    return tmpData;
}

I know that SoftwareSerial Class have a public method is readString() then I'm tried to use that and it return same result returned by while loop read:

getResponse(const uint32_t  wait) {
    String tmpData = "";
    tmpData = esp8266->readString();
    return tmpData;
}

Thanks for any. I'm working on improving my Eng. Regards

Answer 1

Your while loop reads all the characters up until it reaches character 0 (it also has a timeout, although the timeout has been coded wrong since it can't deal with clock rollover). The .readString() method reads characters until no characters arrive within a timeout period (1s if memory serves me correctly).

Your while loop is the more reliable method since it uses a specific delimiter to identify blocks of data (strings) rather than assuming that:

1. The string will all arrive with no delays greater than the timeout
2. The strings will be sent with a gap of at least the timeout length between them.

Personally I would never recommend using any of the "helpful" functions provided for reading from a Stream object other than the basic .read() function.