SaxParser.parse(sok.getInputStream(), new handler()) [clarification please]

Question

this code works, however i am not sure how/why?
i am interested in how Strings/characters are sent over tcp
streams:
here is sender:
Socket sok = new Socket(server, port);
OutputStreamWriter streamWriter = new OutputStreamWriter(sok.getOutputStream());
streamWriter.write(xmlString, 0, xmlString.length());i am ok with this.
i see that the OutputStreamWriter does "something" about converting the
socket's OutputStream to characters.
here is receiver:
SAXParser parser = saxFactory.newSAXParser();
Socket sok = serverSok.accept();
parser.parse(sok.getInputStream(), new MyHandler());see, i am plugging:
sok.getInputStream()
directly into the sax parser without providing context
that those bytes are characters (and what character encodings ).
so, what is going on? i might imagine using:
ObjectOutputStream.appendClass();
ObjectInputStream.resolveClass();to provide context that the byte stream are
characters of the "x" character set.
however, i am not using any
ObjectStreams.
if this is a ridiculous question, and the answer is
in the api somehow, i am sorry. i am not good
at always understanding the api.

Answer 1

then my fundamental confusion is the difference between
java.io.Reader;
java.io.InputStream;
consider the set of polymorphic method signatures for the
SAXParser parse () methods.
parser.parse(sok.getInputStream(), new MyHandler());clearly invokes:
public void parse(InputStream is, DefaultHandler dh);however i don't see any method signature that matches:
parser.parse(new InputStreamReader(sok.getInputStream(), myCharSet), new MyHandler());for example, in the api, there is no:
public void parse(Reader r, DefaultHandler dh);this has been very helpful.
i will Google the interchangability of Reader/InputStream tomorrow, however any
further guidance would be welcomed. the java.io heirarchy confuses me.