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 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.