The third part of this book explores various Java 8 topics that will make you more effective

at using Java 8 and enhance your

codebase with modern idioms.

Chapter 8 explores how you can improve your existing code using new Java 8 features and a few recipes. In addition, it explores vi-
tal software development techniques such as design patterns, refactoring, testing, and debugging.

In chapter 9, you’ll learn what default methods are, how you can use them to evolve APIs in a compatible way, some practical usage
patterns, and rules for using default methods effectively.

Chapter 10 covers the new java.util.Optional class, which allows you to both design better APIs and reduce null pointer ex-
ceptions.

Chapter 11 explores CompletableFuture, which lets you express complex asynchronous computations in a declarative way—par-
alleling the design of the Streams API.

Chapter 12 investigates the new Date and Time API, which greatly improves the previous error-prone APIs for working with dates
and time.