Why Lambdas?

Lambdas, introduced in Java 8, are a powerful feature that bring several key benefits to the language and its ecosystem:

1. Enables Functional Programming:

   • Functional Programming is a paradigm that treats computation as the evaluation of mathematical functions and avoids changing state and mutable data. Lambdas allow you to write more declarative and concise code by expressing instances of single-method interfaces (functional interfaces) directly.

2. Readable and Concise Code:

   • Lambdas reduce the boilerplate code required for anonymous inner classes, making the code shorter and easier to read. This conciseness leads to better maintainability and a clearer understanding of the code's intent.

3. Easier-to-use APIs and Libraries:

   • Many new APIs and enhancements to existing ones leverage lambdas to provide more intuitive and fluent interfaces. This makes it easier to work with collections and other data structures, enhancing developer productivity.

4. Enables Support for Parallel Processing:

   • Lambdas are a key component in enabling parallel processing with the Streams API. By using lambdas, you can easily parallelize operations on collections, which can lead to significant performance improvements on multi-core processors.

In This Course

In this course, I will cover the following topics to help you master the use of lambdas in Java:

1. Understand Lambdas:

   • We will start with the basics of lambdas, understanding their syntax, and how they can be used to simplify code.

2. Using Lambdas:

   • You will learn practical examples of using lambdas in various scenarios, including sorting, filtering, and transforming collections.

3. Functional Interfaces:

   • We will delve into functional interfaces, which are the foundation of lambdas, and explore how to create and use them effectively.

4. Method References:

   • Method references are a shorthand notation of lambdas, and we will learn how to use them to make the code even more concise and readable.

5. Collections Improvements:

   • Finally, we will explore the enhancements to the Collections framework introduced in Java 8, such as the Streams API and new methods on existing collection interfaces that leverage lambdas for more powerful and expressive operations.

By the end of this course, you will have a solid understanding of how to use lambdas to write cleaner, more efficient, and more maintainable Java code.