size_t fread( void *buf, size_t size, size_t count, FILE *fp )

	- prototype in stdio.h

	- reads  (count * size)  bytes from file stream "fp"
	- returns the number of blocks actually read
	- to get better feedback from this function, the parameters "size"
	  and "count" may be swapped.  If count is 1, this method allows
	  fread() to return the actual number of bytes read
	- using fread or any of the stdio functions results in a default
	  allocation of 512 bytes for the I/O buffer and the inclusion of
	  the standard memory allocation functions
	- returns 0 (or short count) on eof or error

	- see  fopen()   fread()   setvbuf()