Friday, January 9, 2015

Java 8 Lambdas Book Review

O'Reily's Java 8 Lambdas by Richard Warburn is a "must have" if you are starting with Java 8 or functional programming. The book covers the different features of Java 8, and how using lambdas make you a better programmer. Here are some topics that catched my attention:

  • Streams - separate the "what" from "how" 
  • Patterns to refactor using lambdas 
  • Higher order functions 
  • Lambda expressions can be used to make many existing design patterns simpler and more readable, especially the command pattern 
  • Lambda-Enabled Concurrency 
  • Lambda-Enabled SOLID principles 


 I recommended the book to my team and in my Meetup group - I'm the organizer of the Miami JVM Meetup. I use the book constantly while doing code reviews. Again, any developer, team leader, or architect who is starting to use Java 8 should get this book. I really enjoyed the ending and finally understood the Reactive Programming approach. As the author mentioned,
The critical design tool for software development is a mind well educated in design principles. It is not...technology. - Craig Larman