INTRODUCTION TO LAMBDA

EXPRESSION
Chonlameth ARPNIKANONDT, Ph.D.
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METHOD PARAMETERIZATION

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1. Filtering Green Apples

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2. Parameterizing the Color

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What if…

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3. Filtering with every attribute one can think of

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Here comes… Behavior Parameterization

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4. Filtering by abstract criteria

Pattern at play here?

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 Verbose!
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5. Using an anonymous class

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6. Using a Lambda expression

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7. Abstracting over a List type

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LAMBDA EXPRESSIONS IN A NUTSHELL

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Lambda comes from Lambda Calculus
• It technically do NOT let you do anything that you could NOT do prior to Java 8
• It encourages you to adopt the style of behavior parameterization
• Your code becomes clearer and more flexible

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Basic Syntax of a Lambda
• Expression-style lambda

• Block-style lambda

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Food for thought…

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Lambda Use Cases and Examples

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Where and how to use lambdas…
• You can use a lambda expression in the context of a functional interface…

Here, you can pass a lambda as second

argument to the method filter because it expects an object of type
Predicate<T>,
which is a functional interface.

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Functional Interfaces

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Functional Interfaces

A functional interface is an interface that

specifies exactly one abstract method.

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This is COMPATIBLE with

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Which of these are functional interfaces?

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Function Descriptor
• In each functional interface, there is exactly one (1) abstract method…
• We call this abstract method a function descriptor…
• It describes the signature of the lambda expression

• The Runnable interface, for example, has one abstract method called run, which accepts
nothing and returns nothing (void).
• Compatible with lambda: () -> void
• The parameter list () means: It accepts nothing…
• The keyword void means: It returns nothing…
• (Apple, Apple) -> int denotes a function taking two Apples as parameters and returning an int.

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Noteworthy…

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Which of the following are valid uses of lambda expressions?

Note: Callable<T> has the

function descriptor (lambda-
expression signature) of
() -> T

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Example: The Execute-Around Pattern

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1. Recognize behavior parameterization…

You can have a lambda help you pass the behavior, e.g.

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2. Use a functional interface to pass behaviors…
Recall, lambdas can be used only in the context of a functional interface
Will have to create one that matches the signature BufferedReader -> String
and that may throw an IOException.

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3. Execute the behavior

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4. Pass lambdas…

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Recap: Functional Interfaces…
• Functional interfaces are useful because the signature of the abstract method can describe the
signature of a lambda expression.
• The signature of the abstract method of a functional interface is called a function descriptor.

• In order to use different lambda expressions, you need a set of functional interfaces that can
describe common function descriptors.
• Several functional interfaces are already available in the Java API such as Comparable,
Runnable, and Callable.

• Java 8 includes several new functional interfaces in the [Link] package, e.g.
•

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Predicate

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Consumer

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Function

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Consider this…

Comments?

Image source (top): [Link]

Image source (bottom): [Link]

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Primitive Specialization

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Lambda Use Cases and Examples with Functional Interfaces

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Exceptions, lambdas and functional interfaces….

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 Deconstructing
the type-
checking
process of a
lambda
expression

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Same lambda, different functional interfaces…

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Some notes (to help avoid confusion) ☺

The method add of a List

returns a boolean and NOT void….

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Which will get executed calling execute( () -> {} ) ?!!

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Which will get executed calling execute( () -> {} ) ?!!

A cast is needed! execute((Action)() -> {} );

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Type inference

Another example…

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Capturing Lambdas

• Lambdas are allowed to capture (to reference in their bodies) instance variables and static
variables without restrictions.
• When local variables are captured, they have to be explicitly declared final or be
effectively final.
• Lambda expressions can capture local variables that are assigned to only once.
Note: capturing an instance variable can be seen as capturing the final local variable this.

Image source: [Link]

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Capturing Lambdas

?
• Lambdas are allowed to capture (to reference in their bodies) instance variables and static
variables without restrictions.
• When local variables are captured, they have to be explicitly declared final or be
effectively final.
• Lambda expressions can capture local variables that are assigned to only once.
Note: capturing an instance variable can be seen as capturing the final local variable this.

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METHOD REFERENCES

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Method References: Revisited

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Method References
• Method references can be seen as shorthand for lambdas calling only a specific method
• A method reference lets you create a lambda expression from an existing method implementation.
• Code can gain better readability by referring to a method name explicitly
• Target reference is placed before the delimiter ::
• Name of the method is provided after this delimiter (::)

• Apple::getWeight is a method reference to the method getWeight defined in the Apple class.
• This method reference is shorthand for the lambda expression
(Apple apple) -> [Link]()

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Examples of lambdas and method reference equivalents

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 This type refers to a method to an object that will be supplied as
one of the parameters of the lambda.

This type refers to a situation when you’re calling a method in a

lambda to an external object that already exists.

This method reference is particularly useful when you need to pass

around a method defined as a private helper.

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Which type of method references?

A good functional interface ?

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Constructor Reference (1) – ClassName::new

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Constructor Reference (2) – ClassName::new

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Constructor Reference (3) – ClassName::new

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Lambdas and Method References in Action – An Example
• Continue with the initial problem of sorting a list of Apples with different ordering strategies
• Final solution will look like this:

• Will employ the available Comparator interface supplied by Java (8 onward)

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1. Passing code (1st solution)

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2. Using an anonymous class (2nd solution)

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3. Using lambda expressions (a review)

Given the code above, the is the functional descriptor

of the Comparator interface?

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3. Using lambda expressions (3rd solution)

Comparator includes a static helper method called comparing that takes a Function
extracting a Comparable key and produces a Comparator object

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4. Using method reference (final solution)

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