Java 8 introduced a lot of new features that enhanced the language's capabilities. Here are some of the key features:

New Features

  • Lambda Expressions: Allows writing more concise code. They are essentially anonymous methods.

    • Example: (String s) -> s.length() > 5 is a lambda expression that returns the length of a string if it is greater than 5.

  • Stream API: Simplifies operations on collections like filtering, mapping, and reducing.

    • Example: list.stream().filter(s -> s.length() > 5).forEach(System.out::println);

  • Optional Class: Helps avoid NullPointerException by providing a container object which may or may not contain a non-null value.

    • Example: Optional.ofNullable(someObject).ifPresent(System.out::println);

  • Date and Time API: Java 8 introduced a new Date-Time API that is more robust and easier to use.

    • Example: LocalDate date = LocalDate.now();

  • Method References: Provides a more concise syntax for method calls.

    • Example: Arrays.sort(strings, String::compareTo);

  • New Concurrency Utilities: Java 8 includes new utilities for working with concurrency, such as CompletableFuture.

  • New I/O API: The NIO.2 API provides improved I/O performance and includes features like asynchronous I/O.

  • Improved Collections Framework: Java 8 includes several new methods for collections, such as forEach, removeIf, and replaceAll.

Resources

For more information on Java 8 features, you can check out our Java 8 Tutorial.

Java 8 Features