Top 10 Best Java 8 Tutorials, Courses, and Books for Beginners

It's been quite some time since Java 8 was released but the Java community is still buzzing with functional programming and lambda expression. Many developers, programmers, and bloggers have already shared lots of really good tutorials to learn lambda expressions, probably the biggest thing in Java world after Generic was introduced in Java 5. While the term "lambda expression" may sound abstract and academic, Java 8 Lambdas can have a big impact on how you program every day. Java 8 has not only introduced Lambda expressions but also Stream API, Functional interfaces, new Date and Time API, and default methods, which has completely changed the way you write your Java code. As a professional Java developer, you will have to learn Java 8 one day, and it's better to do it sooner than later.

How to sort a Map by keys in Java 8 - Example Tutorial

In the last article, I have shown you how to sort a Map by values in Java 8, and in this tutorial, you will learn how to sort a Map by keys like a HashMap, ConcurrentHashMap, LinkedHashmap, or even Hashtable. Theoretically, you cannot sort a Map because it doesn't provide any ordering guarantee. For example, when you iterate over a HashMap, you don't know in which order entries will be traversed because HashMap doesn't provide any ordering. Then, how can you sort a Map which doesn't support order? Well, you can't and that's why you only sort entries of HashMap but you don't store the result back into HasMap or any other Map which doesn't support ordering. If you do so, then sorting will be lost.

10 Examples of Optional in Java 8

Null is bad, it can crash your program. Even its creator called it a billion-dollar mistake hence you should always try to avoid using nulls whenever you can. For example, you should not return a null String when you can return an empty String, similarly never return null collections when you can return an empty collection. I have shared many such tips in my earlier article, 10 tips to avoid NullPointerException and my reader liked that a lot. But, I wrote that article a couple of years ago when Java 8 was not around and there was no Optional, a new way to avoid NullPointerException in Java, but, things have changed now.

Java 8 Date Time - 20 Examples of LocalDate, LocalTime, LocalDateTime

Along with lambda expressions, streams, and several minor goodies, Java 8 has also introduced brand new Date and Time API, and in this tutorial, we will learn how to use Java 8 Date Time API with simple how-to-do task examples. Java's handling of Date, Calendar, and Time is long been criticized by the community, which is not helped by Java's decision of making java.util.Date mutable and SimpleDateFormat not thread-safe. It seems, Java has realized a need for better Date and time support, which is good for a community which already used to of Joda Date and Time API.

10 Examples of Converting a List to Map in Java 8

Hello guys, suppose you have a list of objects, List and you want to convert that to a Map, where a key is obtained from the object and value is the object itself, how do you do it by using Java 8 stream and lambda expression? Prior to Java 8, you can do this by iterating through the List and populating the map by keys and values. Since it's an iterative approach and if you are looking for a functional solution then you need to use the stream and lambda expression, along with some utility classes like Collectors, which provides several useful methods to convert Stream to List, Set, or Map.

10 JDK 7 Features to Revisit, Before You Welcome Java 8 - Examples

It's been almost a month since Java 8 is released and I am sure all of you are exploring new features of JDK 8. But, before you completely delve into Java 8, it’s time to revisit some of the cool features introduced on Java 7. If you remember, Java 6 was nothing on the feature, it was all about JVM changes and performance, but JDK 7 did introduce some cool features which improved the developer's day to day task. Why I am writing this post now? Why I am talking about Java 1. 7, when everybody is talking about Java 8? Well I think, not all Java developers are familiar with changes introduced in JDK 7, and what time can be better to revisit an earlier version than before welcoming a new version.

What is Effectively Final variable of Java 8? Example

Apart from the big three, Lambda expression, Stream API, and new Date and Time API, Java 8 has also introduced a new concept called the "effectively final" variable. A non-final local variable or method parameter whose value is never changed after initialization is known as effectively final. It's very useful in the context of the lambda expression. If you remember, prior to Java 8, we cannot use a non-final local variable in an anonymous class. If you have to access a local variable ( a method parameter or a variable decreed in the method itself) in the Anonymous class, you have to make it final. This restriction is relaxed a bit with lambda coming up. Java designers have taken the need to make local variable final if it's not changed once initialized.

What is Method Reference in Java 8 Functional Programming? Example

Lambda expression allows you to reduce code compared to an anonymous class to pass behaviors to methods, method reference goes one step further. It reduces code written in a lambda expression to make it even more readable and concise. 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.

How to Sort an HashMap by values in Java 8 - Example Tutorial

In the last article, I have shown you how to sort a Map in Java 8 by keys, and today, I'll teach you how to sort a Map by values using Java 8 features e.g. lambda expression, method reference, streams, and new methods added into the java.util.Comparator and Map.Entry classes. In order to sort any Map, like HashMap, Hashtable, LinkedHashMap, TreemMap, or even ConcurrentHashMap, you can first get a set of entries by using the entrySet() method and then you can get the stream by calling the stream() method. The entrySet()  method returns a Set which inherit the stream() method from the java.util.Collection class. Once you got the stream, you can just call the sorted() method which can sort all Map.Entry objects available in Stream using a Comparator.

StringJoiner.join() + String.join() Example in Java 8

Hello guys, joining multiple String literals or objects into one is a common programming requirement and you will often find situations where you need to convert a list of String or a Collection of String into a CSV String for your application. For a long time, JDK API has no way to join multiple String literals or objects together, which forces programmers to write hacks like looping through all String objects and manually joining them using String concatenation to create the final, joined String. Even though this approach worked, it was filled with errors and hacks like you need to be careful not to add delimiter before the first element and after the last element, which often caused issues, particularly in the case of beginners and junior Java developers.

How to use filter + map + collect + Stream in Java? Example Tutorial

Hello guys, many of my readers emailed me to write a post about the map and filter function of Java 8 because they found it difficult to understand and use. Even though I have previously blogged about both map() and filter(), I am writing this post again to explain the concept in more layman's language for a better understanding of my readers and fellow Java developers. The map() function is a method in Stream class that represents a functional programming concept. In simple words, the map() is used to transform one object into another by applying a function. That's the reason the Stream.map(Function mapper) takes a function as an argument. For example, by using map() function, you can convert a list of String into List of Integer by applying Integer.valueOf() method to each String on the input list.

How to Convert a Lambda Expression to Method Reference in Java 8?

If you have been coding in Java 8 then you may know that using method reference in place of lambda expression makes your code more readable, hence it is advised to replace lambda expression with method reference wherever possible. But, the big question is, how do you find whether you can replace a lambda with method reference? Yes, it's not that easy, especially if you have been using Java 8 only for a couple of months and struggling to get the functional programming concepts and idioms sorted in your head. Sometimes, IDEs like IntelliJ IDEA and Eclipse does offer some hints to convert lambda expression to method reference but it does make sense to learn the logic behind it, otherwise, it won't make sense.

Java 8 Certifications - Oracle Java SE 8 Programmer 1 (1Z0-808) - Latest OCAJP Exam (OCP 11 1Z0-815 and 1Z0-816)

Update: The latest version of Java SE certification is now OCAJP 11 (1Z0-815) and OCPJP 11 (1Z0-816) which is based upon Java 11 version. You can take these two exams to become a certified Java 11 developer, but if you already have an Oracle Certified Professional Java Programmer for the Java 6, 7, or 8 versions, then you can take the upgrade OCP Java 6, 7, and 8 to Java SE 11 Developer exam (Exam Code 1Z0-817). I don't have much detail, so I still keep this post as it is, but once I have got more information. I will also update this post. Today one of my readers asked about what is the latest OCPJP or SCJP exams available and is there a Java certification available for Java SE 9 and Java SE 10?