Using Java 8’s New Features

Java 8 introduces a number of revolutionary capabilities - many of them centered on lambda expressions and functional-style programming. These capabilities add powerful new programming techniques to the language, but also add complexity.

This concise course is focused on introducing the new capabilities and how to use them. It includes numerous code examples and programming labs that illustrate all of the new capabilities.

The course is hands on, and requires that students be comfortable with writing general Java code at an intermediate level, including the use of interfaces.

Course Information:

Course Objectives:

• Be familiar with the additions to Java interfaces
• Understand and use functional interfaces
• Understand lambda expressions and method references, and use them to pass behavior (methods)
• Learn about the pre-defined functional interfaces, and use them with lambda expressions
• Understand and use the Stream API
• Process collections using streams, including chaining operations and using collectors
• Understand and use parallel streams
• Understand and deal with the issues of parallel processing
• Learn and use the new Data/Time API
• Be familiar with other new capabilities

Course Outline:

• Session 1: What's new in Interfaces
  • Static Methods
  • Default Methods
  • Functional Interfaces
• Session 2: Introducing Lambda Expressions
  • Motivation for Lambdas
  • Lambda Expression Overview
  • Lambda Expressions and Functional Interfaces
  • Using Lambda Expressions
  • Working with Method References
• Session 3: The Stream API
  • Overview
    • Shortcomings of Collections
    • What are Streams?
    • Chaining - Intermediate and Terminal Operations
  • Understanding the Stream API
    • Overview - java.util.stream types (Stream, Collector, ...)
    • Keys to Understanding the API
    • Important Functional Interfaces: Predicate, Comparator, Function
  • Stream Processing
    • Using filter()
    • Sorting / Comparator.comparing()
    • Using map()
    • Other operations: peek(), distinct(), limit(), skip()
    • Result producing terminal operations - collect, min/max ...
    • void Terminal Operations - forEach()
    • Existence (e.g. anyMatch) and Finder (e.g. findAny) Operations
  • Collectors
    • Roles and Capabilities
    • Collectors.toList(), Collectors.toSet()
    • Supplier and Collectors.toCollection()
    • Partitioning and Grouping Collectors
• Session 4: Parallel Processing and Concurrency
  li>Overview
  • Java 8 Parallel Processing using Streams
  • Ground Rules / Requirements for Using Parallel Stream Processing
  • Multithreading / Concurrency Issues
  • Race Conditions, Data Synchronization, Locks
  • Performance Issues and Considerations
• Session 5: Date/Time API
  • Overview and Limitations of Previous API
  • The Date/Time API (JSR 310)
  • Creating and Working with LocalData/LocalTime/LocalDateTime Instances
  • Formatting Date/Time
  • Localization / Time Zones
  • Periods and Durations
  • Performing Calculations on Data/Time types
• Session 6: Other Capabilities
  • Compact Profiles
  • Using Optional Instead of null
  • Repeatable and Type Annotations
  • Nashorn JavaScript Engine
  • Minor New Features