Java 8 New Features in a Simple Way

Java 8 was released in March 2014 in a new way with enhanced features and functionality. Even though 8 years have passed, Java 8 still finds its implementation across a range of applications and industries. The revolutionary release of Java 8 contains some major features that are listed and deciphered below in this article.

A Glimpse into Java 8

Java 8 was released by Oracle and marked a significant milestone in tech world history. In addition, to the new features, the libraries and tools were all updated aiming to ameliorate productivity while strengthening security for better performance of the applications.

Top Java Features

Here is the list of Java 8 New Features with examples that are explained in a simple and easy-to-understand manner.

1. Lambda Expressions

Lambda Expressions assist in writing the code and creating interfaces in a functional style. It renders a transparent view of the implementation of the SAM (Single Abstract Method) interface by the means of an expression. Lambda Expressions are defined when required and are often used as a parameter for another function. They become extremely useful in collection libraries which help to iterate, filter, and extract the data. A basic example is:

(x,y) -> x+y

There are x and y parameters in the above-mentioned formula which makes their total to be x+y. This formula can be used n times at different locations depending on the type of data of x and y. The formula adds the two numbers on one condition, if the parameters are integers otherwise it goes on to concatenate the strings.

2. Method References

The Method Reference feature of Java 8 points to the method of the functional interface. It is essentially a more compact form of the Lambda Expression. Therefore, instead of using Lambda Expression to refer to a method, simply use Method Reference.

3. Functional Interfaces

Functional Interface refers to the interface that contains only one of the abstract methods. It can range from any number of default or static methods and can also foster a method of classes of the objects. These are also recognized as Single Abstract Method Interfaces (SAM Interfaces).

4. ForEach() Method

One of the other Java Features is the “forEach” function. In Java 8, this function can be integrated over the collection’s items and the iterable interface contains a default method called “forEach.” The collection classes leverage this function to iterate the items. This method is a functional interface and uses a single parameter.

5. Optional Class

Java Developers use Optional Class to manage the NullPointerException while creating and running a Java program. The code can be given some values to execute and the Optional Class decreased the number of the null checks to avoid a NullPointerException.’Java.util’ uses this feature specifically and the feature is used to check the presence of values for a variable.

6. Default and Static Methods

Java 8 new features let you add non-abstract elements to the interfaces and thus, formulate interfaces using method execution. Hence, to create the interfaces, Default and Static methods are utilized and Lambda Expression is enabled through the Default approach. Methods that are defined inside the interface and tagged with default keywords are known as default methods. Additionally, the functionality of the libraries can also be increased using the Default feature.

7. Java Stream API

Java Stream API is utilized by java.util.stream and consists of classes, interfaces, and enum to let Java Developers operate on the elements in a functional style. It handles the computation and implements it only when required. A collection of things is handled using the Stream API, which supports numerous iterations. A stream can be defined as a collection of several items to amalgamate multiple techniques to reach the end goal. The Stream API allows to process and manage the components of Java Collections in parallel.

8. Date Time API

Another new feature of Java 8 is the Date-Time API. It is now classified into Local and Zoned categories with no timezone management and several time zones respectively.

9. Java IO

In the new Java 8, there were several amendments made to the IO feature. These include:-

• Files.list (Path dir): Returns a lazily filled stream, each element represents a directory entry
• Files.lines (Path path): Reads all the lines from a stream
• Files.find (): Returns a stream filled by a path after searching for files in the file tree rooted at a provided beginning file and many more.
• BufferedReader.lines (): Returns a stream containing all of the elements of BufferedReader’s lines
• Factual data cannot be rephrased

10. Decoding and Encoding of Base64

Java 8 introduced a feature with the encode and decode functions. There are 3 encoders and decoders delivered in this feature:-

• The output maps to a set of characters between A-Za-z0–9+/. The encoder does not add a line feed to the output, and the decoder rejects any character other than the above
• The filename safe is mapped to the set of characters between A-Za-z0–9+/, and the output is the URL
• The output of the encoder is mapped to a MIME-friendly format

Key Takeaway

As evident, Java 8 offers a variety of features in the new release. Java has always tried to evolve itself with the changing demands and thus, the release of new features is one of the underlying reasons. These features turn out to be helpful, eliminating manual hours and increasing the productivity and efficiency of the applications and codes.