Understanding Java：Lambda and Stream

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This post will discuss content in Java lambda and stream. It’s based Java SE 8.

Stream

Stream

What is Stream

A sequence of elements supporting sequential and parallel aggregate operations.

Special Stream class (like IntStream) that they provide additional methods for its type of stream (like sum() of IntStream)

To perform a computation, stream operations are composed into a stream pipeline. A stream pipeline consist of source, zero or more intermediate operations, and a terminal operation or forEach(Consume). Streams are lazy; computation on the source data is only performed when the terminal operation is initiated, and source elements are consumed only as needed.

Streams do not provide a means to directly access or manipulate their elements, and are instead concerned with declaratively describing their source and the computational operations which will be performed in aggregate on that source. However, if the provided stream operations do not offer the desired functionality, the BaseStream.iterator() and BaseStream.spliterator() operations can be used to perform a controlled traversal.

A stream should be operated on (invoking an intermediate or terminal stream operation) only once. Since some stream operations may return their receiver rather than a new stream object, it may not be possible to detect reuse in all cases.

Methods of Stream interface

Intermediate Operations

  • Filter
    • Stream distinct()
    • Stream filter(Predicate<? super T> predicate)
    • Stream limit(long maxSize)
    • Stream skip(long n)
  • Map (or Convert)
    • Stream flatMap(Function mapper)
    • DoubleStream flatMapToDouble(Function mapper)
    • IntStream flatMapToInt(Function mapper)
    • LongStream flatMapToLong(Function mapper)
    • Stream map(Function mapper)
    • DoubleStream mapToDouble(ToDoubleFunction mapper)
    • IntStream mapToInt(ToIntFunction mapper)
    • LongStream mapTOLong(ToLongFunction mapper)
  • Operate stream elements
    • Stream peek(Consumer action)
    • Stream sorted()
    • Stream sorted(Comparator comparator)

Terminal Operations

  • Testing

    • boolean allMatch(Predicate predicate)
    • boolean anyMatch(Predicate predicate)
    • boolean noneMatch(Predicate predicate)
    • Optional findAny()
    • Optional findFirst()

  • Get Converted Object Value

    • R collect(Collector<? super T,A,R> collector)
    • Object[] toArray()
    • A[] toArray(IntFunction generator)

  • Get Computing Result

    • long count()
    • Optional max(Comparator comparator)
    • Optional min(Comparator comparator)
    • Optional reduce(BinaryOperator accumulator)
    • T reduce(T identity, BinaryOperator accumulator)

  • Traversing Object

    • void forEach(Consumer action)
    • void forEachOrdered(Consumer action)

Static Methods

  • static Stream empty()
  • static <T> Stream.Builder<T> builder()
  • static Stream concat(Stream<? extends T> a, Stream<? extends T> b)
  • static Stream generate(Supplier s)
  • static Stream iterate(T seed, UnaryOperator f)
  • static Stream of (T... values)
  • static Stream of (T t)

Methods of BaseStream interface

  • void close()
  • boolean isParallel()
  • Iterator<T> iterator()
  • S onClose(Runnable closeHandler)
  • S parallel()
  • S sequential()
  • Spliterator<T> spliterator()
  • S unordered()

Methods of IntStream interface

Intermediate Operations

  • Stream<Integer> boxed()

Terminal Operations

  • OptionalDouble average()
  • int sum()

Examples

Map (or Convert)

List<String> letters = Arrays.asList("a", "b", "c");
List<String> collect = letters.stream().map(String::toUpperCase).collect(Collectors.toList());
System.out.println(collect);
int sum = widgets.stream()
    .filter(w -> w.getColor() == RED)
    .mapToInt(w -> w.getWeight())
    .sum();

Testing

Stream<Integer> stream = Stream.of(1, 1, 3);
stream.allMatch(i -> {return i > 1;})

Get Converted Object Value

Stream<Integer> stream = Stream.of(1, 1, 3);
stream.filter(i -> {return i > 1}).collect(Collectors.toList());

Get Computing Result

Stream.of(1, 1, 3).count();
Stream<Integer> stream = Stream.of(1, 2, 3, 2, 1);
int sum = stream.reduce(0, (i, j) -> {
    return i + j;
}));
int product = stream.reduce(1, (i, j) -> {
    return i * j;
});

Traversing Object

Stream<Integer> stream = Stream.of(1, 2, 3);
stream.forEach(i -> System.out.println(i));
Stream<Integer> stream = Stream.of(1, 2, 3, 2, 1);
stream.sorted((o1, o2) -> {
    return o1 - o2;
}).forEachOrdered(System.out::print);

Collector

A mutable reduction operation that accumulates input elements into a mutable result container, optionally transforming the accumulated result into a final representation after all input elements have been processed. Reduction operations can be performed either sequentially or in parallel.

Collectors

Implementations of Collector that implement various useful reduction operations, such as accumulating elements into collections, summarizing elements according to various criteria.

Function

Function

Function is a functional Interface

  • R apply(T t)

Example

Function<Integer, Double> half = a -> a/2.0;
System.out.println(half.apply(10));

Predicate

Predicate is a functional Interface

  • boolean test(T t)

Example

Predicate<Integer> predicate = i -> {return i > 1;};
System.out.println(predicate.test(2));
public boolean testPredicate(int val, Predicate<Integer> predicate){
    return predicate.test(val);
}
public void test(){
    assertTrue(testPredicate(2, i -> i > 1));
    assertFalse(testPredicate(1, i -> i > 1));
}

Consumer

Consumer is a functional Interface

  • void accept(T t)

Example

Consumer consumer = System.out::println;
consumer.accept("hello Consumer");

Supplier

Supplier is a functional Interface

  • T get()

Example

Supplier supplier = () -> {return "hello Supplier";};
System.out.println(supplier.get());
public static void testSupplier(Supplier supplier){
    System.out.println(supplier.get());
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
    testSupplier(()->"hello");
}

BinaryOperator

BinaryOperator is a functional interface, and it extends BiFunction<T, U, R>

  • R apply(T t, U u)

Lambda Expressions and Method References

what is lambda expression?

Implements anonymous inner class of interface that has a single method and have annotation @FuncationalInterface can using lambda expression.

Example 1

Thread thread = new Thread(new Runnable(){
    void run(){
        System.out.println("annoymous inner class");
    }
});
Thread thread = new Thread(()->{
    System.out.println("lambda expression");
});

Example 2

File dir = new File("{dir_path}");
File[] files = dir.listFiles(new FileFilter(){
    @Override
    public boolean accept(File file){
        return file.getName().endsWith(".log");
    }
});
File dir = new File("{dir_path}");
File[] files = dir.listFiles((file)->{
    return file.getName().endsWith(".log");
});

What is Method Reference?

You use lambda expressions to create anonymous methods. Sometimes, however, a lambda expression does nothing but call an existing method. In those cases, it’s often clearer to refer to the existing method by name. Method references enable you to do this; they are compact, easy-to-read lambda expressions for methods that already have a name.

Kinds of Method References

There are four kinds of method references:

Kind Example
Reference to a static method ContainingClass::staticMethodName
Reference to an instance method of a particular object containingObject::instanceMethodName
Reference to an instance method of an arbitrary object of a particular type ContainingType::methodName
Reference to a constructor ClassName::new

Examples of Usage

public class People {

    private String name;

    public People(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }

    public String getName() {
        return this.name;
    }

    public boolean compareName(String name) {
        return this.name == name;
    }

    public static String convertToUpperCase(String s) {
        return s.toUpperCase();
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Reference to an instance method of an arbitrary object of a particular type
        Function<People, String> getName = People::getName;
        System.out.println(getName.apply(new People("Tom"))); // Tom

        // Reference to an instance method of a particular object
        People people = new People("Jack");
        Function<String, Boolean> compareName = people::compareName;
        System.out.println(compareName.apply("Jack")); // true

        // Reference to a static method
        Function<String, String> convertToUpperCase = People::convertToUpperCase;
        System.out.println(convertToUpperCase.apply("abc")); // ABC

        // Reference to a constructor
        Function<String, People> getInstance = People::new;
        System.out.println(getInstance.apply("John").getName()); // John
    }
}

Java Util

Optional

What is Optional?

Convert a object to Optional object, if the value is not null, isPresent() will return true and get() return the value; if the value is null, isPresent() will return false and get() return empty Optional object.

In short, you can either get value or empty optional from an optional object, and you never get null.

Optional Methods

Static Methods

  • static Optional empty() // get empty Optional
  • static Optional of(T value) // if value is null, it will throw NullPointerException
  • static Optional ofNullable(T value) // if value is null, return empty Optional

Intermediate Operations

  • Optional filter(Predicate predicate)
  • Optional flatMap(Function mapper)
  • Optional map(Function mapper)

Terminal Operations

  • Test
    • void ifPresent(Consumer consumer)
    • boolean ifPresent()
  • Get
    • T get()
    • T orElse(T other)
    • T orElseGet(Supplier other)
    • T orElseThrow(Supplier exceptionSupplier)

Example

int getNotNullValueOrDefault(Integer obj, int defaultValue){
    Optional<Integer> optional = Optional.ofNullable(obj);
    return optional.orElse(defaultValue);
}

Comparator

Comparator is a functional interface

  • int compare(T o1, T o2)

Spliterator

Spliterator is for traversing and partitioning elements of a source. The source of elements covered by a Spliterator could be, for example, an array, a Collection, an IO channel, or a generator function.

When used in a parallel programming solution, bear in mind that the individual Spliterator is not thread safe; instead the parallel processing implementation must insure that each individual Spliterator is handled by one thread at a time. A thread calling the trySplit() of a Spliterator, may hand over the returned new Spliterator to a separate thread for processing. This follows the idea of decomposition of a larger task into smaller sub-tasks that can be processed in parallel individually of each other.

Note Spliterator likes Stream every operate only once. Can’t traverse the same spliterator more than once.

Methods of Spliterator

  • Characteristics
    • int characteristics()
    • default boolean hasCharacteristics(int characteristics)
  • Traversal
    • default void forEachRemaining(Consumer action)
    • boolean tryAdvance(Consumer action)
  • Others
    • long estimateSize()
    • default long getExactSizeIfKnow()
    • default Comparator getComparator()
    • Spliterator trySplit()

Example

characteristics

List<Integer> list = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList(1, 2, 3));
Spliterator<Integer> spliterator = list.spliterator();
System.out.println(spliterator.hasCharacteristics(Spliterator.SIZED)); // true
int expected = Spliterator.ORDERED | Spliterator.SIZED | Spliterator.SUBSIZED;
System.out.println(spliterator.characteristics() == expected); // true

traversal

spliterator.forEachRemaining(System.out::println);
while (spliterator.tryAdvance(System.out::println));

split

List<Integer> list = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList(1, 2, 3));
Spliterator<Integer> spliterator = list.spliterator();
Spliterator<Integer> newPartition = spliterator.trySplit();
spliterator.forEachRemaining(System.out::println);
System.out.println("======");
newPartition.forEachRemaining(System.out::println);

Summary

Stream is operations on collections, and is similar to multiple times “for loop”, but it’s more concise than multiple times “for loop” and it provides many convenient operations implementation. Additionally, it can sequential or parallel operating container elements.

Functional Interface represents the class that can be use lambda expression.

Lambda Expression is similar to implementation of anonymous inner class, but it’s more concise than anonymous inner class.

Method Reference is similar to lambda expression, but it’s more concise than Lambda Expression. It is a replacement of method implementation of an anonymous inner class when they have the same input and output of the method. It’s more convenient and concise than Lambda Expression.

References

[1] Java API docs

[2] Lambda Expressions - The Java Tutorials

[3] Method References - The Java Tutorials