Oracle’s long-anticipated update includes addition of lambda expressions and shift to functional programming language.
Marking a watershed moment for Java programmers, Oracle today is releasing JDK (Java Development Kit) 8, accommodating lambda expressions and representing a shift in how developers approach the language. Based on the Java Platform Standard Edition 8 specification, JDK 8 features Project Lambda support allowing for functional programming capabilities. “With Java 8, it’s a huge shift in how you code,” says Java developer Yoav Landman, CTO at JFrog, which provides tools for managing binaries. With JDK 8’s lambdas and method references, the API moves to a functional paradigm, much different from the imperative paradigm Java has used so far. “When you work with functional [languages], you decompose the problem to different functions values, and you pass values between those functions.” The program thus becomes easier to debug, says Landman. JDK 8’s lambda capabilities are indeed a big change, and they should be seen as a benefit to parallel programming, says I...