声明：一方面提升下英文水平，一方面重温下java各版本新特性，版权归原作者所有 ，除了翻译也会加自己的东西。水平有限，请理性查阅

Modern Java - A Guide to Java 8

时髦的Java -java 8 参考手册

This article was originally posted on my blog.

这篇文章最初发表在我的博客.

You should also read my Java 11 Tutorial (including new language and API features from Java 9, 10 and 11).

**你也可以翻阅我的[java11 教程]((https://winterbe.com/posts/2018/09/24/java-11-tutorial/) (包含java9，10，11的新语言和api特性）

Welcome to my introduction to Java 8. This tutorial guides you step by step through all new language features. Backed by short and simple code samples you'll learn how to use default interface methods, lambda expressions, method references and repeatable annotations. At the end of the article you'll be familiar with the most recent API changes like streams, functional interfaces, map extensions and the new Date API.

欢迎参读我的入门关于java 8.该教程将逐步指导你了解所有的新语言特性。通过一些简短的编码示例我闷酒可以学习怎么使用默认接口方法，lambda表达式，方法引用和可重复注解。在文章的最后你将会熟悉最新的api变化像流，功能接口，map拓展和最新的日期api.

No walls of text, just a bunch of commented code snippets. Enjoy!

** 该文本没有墙，只是一连串的评论和代码片段。请享受Java8新特性之旅吧！**

<p align="center"> ★★★ Like this project? Leave a star, <a href="https://github.com/xiaomingtongxie/java8-tutorial"> to support my work. Thanks! ★★★ </p>

Table of Contents

内容列表

• Default Methods for Interfaces

• 接口默认方法

• Lambda expressions

• Lambda 表达式

• Functional Interfaces

• 功能性接口

• Method and Constructor References

• 方法和结构体引用

• Lambda Scopes

• Lambda 范围

• Accessing local variables

• 访问局部变量

• Accessing fields and static variables

• 访问字段和静态变量

• Accessing Default Interface Methods

• 访问默认接口方法

• Built-in Functional Interfaces

• 内置功能接口

• Predicates

• 判断 这个该怎么译

• Functions

• 函数

• Suppliers

• 生产者 (接口提供者？)

• Consumers

• 消费者

• Comparators

• 比较器

• Optionals

• 选择器

• Streams

• 流

• Filter

• 过滤器

• Sorted

• 排序

• Map

• Match

• 匹配

• Count

• 计数

• Reduce

• 集合求差集 (不知道咋译）

• Parallel Streams

• 并行流

• Sequential Sort

• 顺序排序

• Parallel Sort

• 并行排序

• Maps

• Date API

• 日期 api

• Clock

• 计时器

• Timezones

• 时区

• LocalTime

• 地方时间

• LocalDate

• 地方日期

• LocalDateTime

• Annotations

• 注解

• Where to go from here?

Default Methods for Interfaces

接口默认方法

Java 8 enables us to add non-abstract method implementations to interfaces by utilizing the default keyword. This feature is also known as virtual extension methods.

Java 8 允许我们在接口中使用default关键字来添加一个非抽象方法实现。这个特性也被称作为虚拟扩展方法.

Here is our first example:

第一个示例：

inerface Formula {
double calculate(int a);
default double sqrt(int a) {
return Math.sqrt(a);
}
}

Besides the abstract method calculate the interface Formula also defines the default method sqrt. Concrete classes only have to implement the abstract method calculate. The default method sqrt can be used out of the box.

除了抽象方法calculate以外，接口Formula也定义了一个默认方法sqrt. 实现类只需要实现抽象方法calculate.而默认方法sqrt开箱即用。

Formula formula = new Formula() {
@Override
public double calculate(int a) {
return sqrt(a * 100);
}
};
formula.calculate(100);
// 100.0
formula.sqrt(16);
// 4.0

The formula is implemented as an anonymous object. The code is quite verbose: 6 lines of code for such a simple calculation of sqrt(a * 100). As we'll see in the next section, there's a much nicer way of implementing single method objects in Java 8.

这个规则依靠一个匿名对象来实现。为了实现一个简单的计算要用六行代码，这样相当的冗长。我们可以在下节看到，用java8我们有更好的方法来实现单个方法对象。

Lambda expressions

lambda 表达式

Let's start with a simple example of how to sort a list of strings in prior versions of Java:

我们以在以前的java版本中怎么样去对一个字符串集合进行排序这样简单的例子作为开始。

List<String> names = Arrays.asList("peter", "anna", "mike", "xenia");
Collections.sort(names, new Comparator<String>() {
@Override
public int compare(String a, String b) {
return b.compareTo(a);
}
});

The static utility method Collections.sort accepts a list and a comparator in order to sort the elements of the given list. You often find yourself creating anonymous comparators and pass them to the sort method.

静态实例方法Collections.sort为了对给定元素的集合进行排序接受一个集合和一个比较器。你通常会发现你自己会创建匿名比较器将它们传递给排序方法。

Instead of creating anonymous objects all day long, Java 8 comes with a much shorter syntax, lambda expressions:

java 8 提供了更短的语法，而不是整天的创建匿名对象。

Collections.sort(names, (String a, String b) -> {
return b.compareTo(a);
});

As you can see the code is much shorter and easier to read. But it gets even shorter:

你可以看到代码变得更短，更容易阅读，但它可以更短：

Collections.sort(names, (String a, String b) -> b.compareTo(a));

For one line method bodies you can skip both the braces {} and the return keyword. But it gets even shorter:

对于行方法主体可以跳过花括号和return关键词。但它还可以更短：

names.sort((a, b) -> b.compareTo(a));

List now has a sort method. Also the java compiler is aware of the parameter types so you can skip them as well. Let's dive deeper into how lambda expressions can be used in the wild.

集合list 现在有一个sort方法。java编译器也知道参数类型，你也可以忽略它们。让我们深入研究一下lambda表达式怎么在其他地方应用。

Functional Interfaces

函数式接口

How does lambda expressions fit into Java's type system? Each lambda corresponds to a given type, specified by an interface. A so called functional interface must contain exactly one abstract method declaration. Each lambda expression of that type will be matched to this abstract method. Since default methods are not abstract you're free to add default methods to your functional interface.

lambda表达式如何适应java类型系统？每个lambda对应于由制定接口给定的指定类型。一个所谓的functional interface 必须恰好包含一个抽象方法声明。每个这种类型的lambda表达式都将匹配到这个抽象方法。由于默认方法不是抽象的你可以自由的在函数式接口中添加默认方法。

We can use arbitrary interfaces as lambda expressions as long as the interface only contains one abstract method. To ensure that your interface meet the requirements, you should add the @FunctionalInterface annotation. The compiler is aware of this annotation and throws a compiler error as soon as you try to add a second abstract method declaration to the interface.

只要接口仅仅包含一个抽象方法我们就可以用任意的接口作为lambda表达式。为了确保你的接口符合条件，你应该添加“@FunctionalInterface"注解。编译器知道这个声明，并在你试图向接口中添加第二个抽象方法声明的时候抛出一个编译错误。

Example:

@FunctionalInterface
interface Converter<F, T> {
T convert(F from);
}

Converter<String, Integer> converter = (from) -> Integer.valueOf(from);
Integer converted = converter.convert("123");
System.out.println(converted);
// 123

Keep in mind that the code is also valid if the @FunctionalInterface annotation would be omitted.

请记住，如果省略‘@FunctionalInterface'注解，代码仍然是有效的。

Method and Constructor References

方法和构造函数引用

The above example code can be further simplified by utilizing static method references:

利用静态方法引用可以进一步简化上述示例代码。

Converter<String, Integer> converter = Integer::valueOf;
Integer converted = converter.convert("123");
System.out.println(converted);
// 123

Java 8 enables you to pass references of methods or constructors via the :: keyword. The above example shows how to reference a static method. But we can also reference object methods:

javad 8 允许你使用 '::' 关键字来传递方法或者构造器的引用。上面的示例展示了如何引用一个静态方法。但是我们也可以引用对象方法：

class Something {
String startsWith(String s) {
return String.valueOf(s.charAt(0));
}
}

Something something = new Something();
Converter<String, String> converter = something::startsWith;
String converted = converter.convert("Java");
System.out.println(converted);
// "J"

Let's see how the :: keyword works for constructors. First we define an example class with different constructors:

让我们看一下关键字“::”是如何为构造器工作的，首先，我们用不同的构造器来定义一个示例类。

class Person {
String firstName;
String lastName;
Person() {}
Person(String firstName, String lastName) {
this.firstName = firstName;
this.lastName = lastName;
}
}

Next we specify a person factory interface to be used for creating new persons:

接下来我们指定一个‘person'工厂接口来创建person对象

interface PersonFactory<P extends Person> {
P create(String firstName, String lastName);
}

Instead of implementing the factory manually, we glue everything together via constructor references:

我们通过构造器将所有东西粘在一起，而不是通过手动实现工厂方法。

PersonFactory<Person> personFactory = Person::new;
Person person = personFactory.create("Peter", "Parker");

We create a reference to the Person constructor via Person::new. The Java compiler automatically chooses the right constructor by matching the signature of PersonFactory.create. 我们通过‘Person::new’ 创建Person构造器的引用。java编译器通过匹配‘PersonFactory.create'的签名自动地选择正确的构造函数。

Lambda Scopes

Lambda 范围

Accessing outer scope variables from lambda expressions is very similar to anonymous objects. You can access final variables from the local outer scope as well as instance fields and static variables.

从lambda表达式访问外部变量和匿名对象非常相似。您可以从本地外部范围以及实例字段和静态变量访问final变量。

Accessing local variables

访问局部变量

We can read final local variables from the outer scope of lambda expressions:

我们可以从lambda表达式的外部范围读取final局部变量。

final int num = 1;
Converter<Integer, String> stringConverter =
(from) -> String.valueOf(from + num);
stringConverter.convert(2);
// 3

But different to anonymous objects the variable num does not have to be declared final. This code is also valid:

但是与匿名对象不同的是，变量' num '不必声明为final。此代码也是有效的:

int num = 1;
Converter<Integer, String> stringConverter =
(from) -> String.valueOf(from + num);
stringConverter.convert(2);
// 3

However num must be implicitly final for the code to compile. The following code does not compile:

但是，要编译代码，num必须是隐式的final。以下代码不不编译:

int num = 1;
Converter<Integer, String> stringConverter =
(from) -> String.valueOf(from + num);
num = 3;

Writing to num from within the lambda expression is also prohibited.

也禁止从lambda表达式中写入' num '

Accessing fields and static variables

访问域和静态变量

In contrast to local variables, we have both read and write access to instance fields and static variables from within lambda expressions. This behaviour is well known from anonymous objects.

与局部变量相反，我们可以从lambda表达式中读写实例字段和静态变量。这种行为在匿名对象中很常见。

class Lambda4 {
static int outerStaticNum;
int outerNum;
void testScopes() {
Converter<Integer, String> stringConverter1 = (from) -> {
outerNum = 23;
return String.valueOf(from);
};
Converter<Integer, String> stringConverter2 = (from) -> {
outerStaticNum = 72;
return String.valueOf(from);
};
}
}

Accessing Default Interface Methods

访问默认接口方法

Remember the formula example from the first section? Interface Formula defines a default method sqrt which can be accessed from each formula instance including anonymous objects. This does not work with lambda expressions.

还记得第一部分的公式例子吗?接口“Formula”定义了一个默认方法“sqrt”，可以从包括匿名对象在内的每个Formula实例访问该方法。这不适用于lambda表达式。

Default methods cannot be accessed from within lambda expressions. The following code does not compile:

不能从lambda表达式中访问默认方法。下列代码无法编译:

Formula formula = (a) -> sqrt(a * 100);

Built-in Functional Interfaces

内置函数式接口

The JDK 1.8 API contains many built-in functional interfaces. Some of them are well known from older versions of Java like Comparator or Runnable. Those existing interfaces are extended to enable Lambda support via the @FunctionalInterface annotation.

JDK 1.8 API包含许多内置的函数接口。其中一些在较老版本的Java中很有名，比如“Comparator”或“Runnable”。这些现有接口经过扩展，通过“@FunctionalInterface”注释支持Lambda。

But the Java 8 API is also full of new functional interfaces to make your life easier. Some of those new interfaces are well known from the Google Guava library. Even if you're familiar with this library you should keep a close eye on how those interfaces are extended by some useful method extensions.

但是Java 8 API也充满了新的功能接口，使您的工作更容易。其中一些新接口在谷歌Guava库中非常有名。即使您熟悉这个库，也应该密切关注那些接口是如何通过一些有用的方法扩展进行扩展的。

Predicates

判断（断言？）

Predicates are boolean-valued functions of one argument. The interface contains various default methods for composing predicates to complex logical terms (and, or, negate)

谓词是一个参数的布尔值函数。该接口包含各种默认方法，用于将谓词组合为复杂逻辑术语(and, or, negate)

Predicate<String> predicate = (s) -> s.length() > 0;
predicate.test("foo");
// true
predicate.negate().test("foo");
// false
Predicate<Boolean> nonNull = Objects::nonNull;
Predicate<Boolean> isNull = Objects::isNull;
Predicate<String> isEmpty = String::isEmpty;
Predicate<String> isNotEmpty = isEmpty.negate();

Functions

函数

Functions accept one argument and produce a result. Default methods can be used to chain multiple functions together (compose, andThen).

函数接受一个参数并产生一个结果。默认方法可用于将多个函数链接在一起(组合，然后)。

Function<String, Integer> toInteger = Integer::valueOf;
Function<String, String> backToString = toInteger.andThen(String::valueOf);
backToString.apply("123");
// "123"

Suppliers

生产者

Suppliers produce a result of a given generic type. Unlike Functions, Suppliers don't accept arguments.

供应商生成给定反省类型的结果。不像函数，供应商不接受参数。

Supplier<Person> personSupplier = Person::new;
personSupplier.get();
// new Person

Consumers

消费者

Consumers represent operations to be performed on a single input argument.

消费者要单个输入参数执行的操作.

Consumer<Person> greeter = (p) -> System.out.println("Hello, " + p.firstName);
greeter.accept(new Person("Luke", "Skywalker"));

Comparators

比较器

Comparators are well known from older versions of Java. Java 8 adds various default methods to the interface.

比较器在比较老的java版本中很出名。java8在接口中加入了各种默认方法。

Comparator<Person> comparator = (p1, p2) -> p1.firstName.compareTo(p2.firstName);
Person p1 = new Person("John", "Doe");
Person p2 = new Person("Alice", "Wonderland");
comparator.compare(p1, p2);
// > 0
comparator.reversed().compare(p1, p2);
// < 0

Optionals

选择器

Optionals are not functional interfaces, but nifty utilities to prevent NullPointerException. It's an important concept for the next section, so let's have a quick look at how Optionals work.

选择器不是函数接口，而是防止“空指针”的漂亮实用程序。这是下一节的一个重要概念，所以让我们快速了解一下选项的工作原理。

Optional is a simple container for a value which may be null or non-null. Think of a method which may return a non-null result but sometimes return nothing. Instead of returning null you return an Optional in Java 8.

选择器是一个简单的容器，其值可以为空或非空。考虑一个可能返回非空结果但有时什么也不返回的方法。在Java 8中，返回的不是“null”，而是“Optional”

Optional<String> optional = Optional.of("bam");
optional.isPresent();
// true
optional.get();
// "bam"
optional.orElse("fallback");
// "bam"
optional.ifPresent((s) -> System.out.println(s.charAt(0)));
// "b"

Streams

A java.util.Stream represents a sequence of elements on which one or more operations can be performed. Stream operations are either intermediate or terminal. While terminal operations return a result of a certain type, intermediate operations return the stream itself so you can chain multiple method calls in a row. Streams are created on a source, e.g. a java.util.Collection like lists or sets (maps are not supported). Stream operations can either be executed sequentially or parallely.

Streams are extremely powerful, so I wrote a separate Java 8 Streams Tutorial. You should also check out Sequency as a similiar library for the web.

Let's first look how sequential streams work. First we create a sample source in form of a list of strings:

List<String> stringCollection = new ArrayList<>();
stringCollection.add("ddd2");
stringCollection.add("aaa2");
stringCollection.add("bbb1");
stringCollection.add("aaa1");
stringCollection.add("bbb3");
stringCollection.add("ccc");
stringCollection.add("bbb2");
stringCollection.add("ddd1");

Collections in Java 8 are extended so you can simply create streams either by calling Collection.stream() or Collection.parallelStream(). The following sections explain the most common stream operations.

Filter

Filter accepts a predicate to filter all elements of the stream. This operation is intermediate which enables us to call another stream operation (forEach) on the result. ForEach accepts a consumer to be executed for each element in the filtered stream. ForEach is a terminal operation. It's void, so we cannot call another stream operation.

stringCollection
.stream()
.filter((s) -> s.startsWith("a"))
.forEach(System.out::println);
// "aaa2", "aaa1"

Sorted

Sorted is an intermediate operation which returns a sorted view of the stream. The elements are sorted in natural order unless you pass a custom Comparator.

stringCollection
.stream()
.sorted()
.filter((s) -> s.startsWith("a"))
.forEach(System.out::println);
// "aaa1", "aaa2"

Keep in mind that sorted does only create a sorted view of the stream without manipulating the ordering of the backed collection. The ordering of stringCollection is untouched:

System.out.println(stringCollection);
// ddd2, aaa2, bbb1, aaa1, bbb3, ccc, bbb2, ddd1

Map

The intermediate operation map converts each element into another object via the given function. The following example converts each string into an upper-cased string. But you can also use map to transform each object into another type. The generic type of the resulting stream depends on the generic type of the function you pass to map.

stringCollection
.stream()
.map(String::toUpperCase)
.sorted((a, b) -> b.compareTo(a))
.forEach(System.out::println);
// "DDD2", "DDD1", "CCC", "BBB3", "BBB2", "AAA2", "AAA1"

Match

Various matching operations can be used to check whether a certain predicate matches the stream. All of those operations are terminal and return a boolean result.

boolean anyStartsWithA =
stringCollection
.stream()
.anyMatch((s) -> s.startsWith("a"));
System.out.println(anyStartsWithA);
// true
boolean allStartsWithA =
stringCollection
.stream()
.allMatch((s) -> s.startsWith("a"));
System.out.println(allStartsWithA);
// false
boolean noneStartsWithZ =
stringCollection
.stream()
.noneMatch((s) -> s.startsWith("z"));
System.out.println(noneStartsWithZ);
// true

Count

Count is a terminal operation returning the number of elements in the stream as a long.

long startsWithB =
stringCollection
.stream()
.filter((s) -> s.startsWith("b"))
.count();
System.out.println(startsWithB);
// 3

Reduce

This terminal operation performs a reduction on the elements of the stream with the given function. The result is an Optional holding the reduced value.

Optional<String> reduced =
stringCollection
.stream()
.sorted()
.reduce((s1, s2) -> s1 + "#" + s2);
reduced.ifPresent(System.out::println);
// "aaa1#aaa2#bbb1#bbb2#bbb3#ccc#ddd1#ddd2"

Parallel Streams

As mentioned above streams can be either sequential or parallel. Operations on sequential streams are performed on a single thread while operations on parallel streams are performed concurrently on multiple threads.

The following example demonstrates how easy it is to increase the performance by using parallel streams.

First we create a large list of unique elements:

int max = 1000000;
List<String> values = new ArrayList<>(max);
for (int i = 0; i < max; i++) {
UUID uuid = UUID.randomUUID();
values.add(uuid.toString());
}

Now we measure the time it takes to sort a stream of this collection.

Sequential Sort

long t0 = System.nanoTime();
long count = values.stream().sorted().count();
System.out.println(count);
long t1 = System.nanoTime();
long millis = TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS.toMillis(t1 - t0);
System.out.println(String.format("sequential sort took: %d ms", millis));
// sequential sort took: 899 ms

Parallel Sort

long t0 = System.nanoTime();
long count = values.parallelStream().sorted().count();
System.out.println(count);
long t1 = System.nanoTime();
long millis = TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS.toMillis(t1 - t0);
System.out.println(String.format("parallel sort took: %d ms", millis));
// parallel sort took: 472 ms

As you can see both code snippets are almost identical but the parallel sort is roughly 50% faster. All you have to do is change stream() to parallelStream().

Maps

As already mentioned maps do not directly support streams. There's no stream() method available on the Map interface itself, however you can create specialized streams upon the keys, values or entries of a map via map.keySet().stream(), map.values().stream() and map.entrySet().stream().

Furthermore maps support various new and useful methods for doing common tasks.

Map<Integer, String> map = new HashMap<>();
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
map.putIfAbsent(i, "val" + i);
}
map.forEach((id, val) -> System.out.println(val));

The above code should be self-explaining: putIfAbsent prevents us from writing additional if null checks; forEach accepts a consumer to perform operations for each value of the map.

This example shows how to compute code on the map by utilizing functions:

map.computeIfPresent(3, (num, val) -> val + num);
map.get(3);
// val33
map.computeIfPresent(9, (num, val) -> null);
map.containsKey(9);
// false
map.computeIfAbsent(23, num -> "val" + num);
map.containsKey(23);
// true
map.computeIfAbsent(3, num -> "bam");
map.get(3);
// val33

Next, we learn how to remove entries for a given key, only if it's currently mapped to a given value:

map.remove(3, "val3");
map.get(3);
// val33
map.remove(3, "val33");
map.get(3);
// null

Another helpful method:

map.getOrDefault(42, "not found");
// not found

Merging entries of a map is quite easy:

map.merge(9, "val9", (value, newValue) -> value.concat(newValue));
map.get(9);
// val9
map.merge(9, "concat", (value, newValue) -> value.concat(newValue));
map.get(9);
// val9concat

Merge either put the key/value into the map if no entry for the key exists, or the merging function will be called to change the existing value.

Date API

Java 8 contains a brand new date and time API under the package java.time. The new Date API is comparable with the Joda-Time library, however it's not the same. The following examples cover the most important parts of this new API.

Clock

Clock provides access to the current date and time. Clocks are aware of a timezone and may be used instead of System.currentTimeMillis() to retrieve the current time in milliseconds since Unix EPOCH. Such an instantaneous point on the time-line is also represented by the class Instant. Instants can be used to create legacy java.util.Date objects.

Clock clock = Clock.systemDefaultZone();
long millis = clock.millis();
Instant instant = clock.instant();
Date legacyDate = Date.from(instant);
// legacy java.util.Date

Timezones

Timezones are represented by a ZoneId. They can easily be accessed via static factory methods. Timezones define the offsets which are important to convert between instants and local dates and times.

System.out.println(ZoneId.getAvailableZoneIds());
// prints all available timezone ids
ZoneId zone1 = ZoneId.of("Europe/Berlin");
ZoneId zone2 = ZoneId.of("Brazil/East");
System.out.println(zone1.getRules());
System.out.println(zone2.getRules());
// ZoneRules[currentStandardOffset=+01:00]
// ZoneRules[currentStandardOffset=-03:00]

LocalTime

LocalTime represents a time without a timezone, e.g. 10pm or 17:30:15. The following example creates two local times for the timezones defined above. Then we compare both times and calculate the difference in hours and minutes between both times.

LocalTime now1 = LocalTime.now(zone1);
LocalTime now2 = LocalTime.now(zone2);
System.out.println(now1.isBefore(now2));
// false
long hoursBetween = ChronoUnit.HOURS.between(now1, now2);
long minutesBetween = ChronoUnit.MINUTES.between(now1, now2);
System.out.println(hoursBetween);
// -3
System.out.println(minutesBetween);
// -239

LocalTime comes with various factory methods to simplify the creation of new instances, including parsing of time strings.

LocalTime late = LocalTime.of(23, 59, 59);
System.out.println(late);
// 23:59:59
DateTimeFormatter germanFormatter =
DateTimeFormatter
.ofLocalizedTime(FormatStyle.SHORT)
.withLocale(Locale.GERMAN);
LocalTime leetTime = LocalTime.parse("13:37", germanFormatter);
System.out.println(leetTime);
// 13:37

LocalDate

LocalDate represents a distinct date, e.g. 2014-03-11. It's immutable and works exactly analog to LocalTime. The sample demonstrates how to calculate new dates by adding or subtracting days, months or years. Keep in mind that each manipulation returns a new instance.

LocalDate today = LocalDate.now();
LocalDate tomorrow = today.plus(1, ChronoUnit.DAYS);
LocalDate yesterday = tomorrow.minusDays(2);
LocalDate independenceDay = LocalDate.of(2014, Month.JULY, 4);
DayOfWeek dayOfWeek = independenceDay.getDayOfWeek();
System.out.println(dayOfWeek);
// FRIDAY

Parsing a LocalDate from a string is just as simple as parsing a LocalTime:

DateTimeFormatter germanFormatter =
DateTimeFormatter
.ofLocalizedDate(FormatStyle.MEDIUM)
.withLocale(Locale.GERMAN);
LocalDate xmas = LocalDate.parse("24.12.2014", germanFormatter);
System.out.println(xmas);
// 2014-12-24

LocalDateTime

LocalDateTime represents a date-time. It combines date and time as seen in the above sections into one instance. LocalDateTime is immutable and works similar to LocalTime and LocalDate. We can utilize methods for retrieving certain fields from a date-time:

LocalDateTime sylvester = LocalDateTime.of(2014, Month.DECEMBER, 31, 23, 59, 59);
DayOfWeek dayOfWeek = sylvester.getDayOfWeek();
System.out.println(dayOfWeek);
// WEDNESDAY
Month month = sylvester.getMonth();
System.out.println(month);
// DECEMBER
long minuteOfDay = sylvester.getLong(ChronoField.MINUTE_OF_DAY);
System.out.println(minuteOfDay);
// 1439

With the additional information of a timezone it can be converted to an instant. Instants can easily be converted to legacy dates of type java.util.Date.

Instant instant = sylvester
.atZone(ZoneId.systemDefault())
.toInstant();
Date legacyDate = Date.from(instant);
System.out.println(legacyDate);
// Wed Dec 31 23:59:59 CET 2014

Formatting date-times works just like formatting dates or times. Instead of using pre-defined formats we can create formatters from custom patterns.

DateTimeFormatter formatter =
DateTimeFormatter
.ofPattern("MMM dd, yyyy - HH:mm");
LocalDateTime parsed = LocalDateTime.parse("Nov 03, 2014 - 07:13", formatter);
String string = formatter.format(parsed);
System.out.println(string);
// Nov 03, 2014 - 07:13

Unlike java.text.NumberFormat the new DateTimeFormatter is immutable and thread-safe.

For details on the pattern syntax read here.

Annotations

Annotations in Java 8 are repeatable. Let's dive directly into an example to figure that out.

First, we define a wrapper annotation which holds an array of the actual annotations:

@interface Hints {
Hint[] value();
}
@Repeatable(Hints.class)
@interface Hint {
String value();
}

Java 8 enables us to use multiple annotations of the same type by declaring the annotation @Repeatable.

Variant 1: Using the container annotation (old school)

@Hints({@Hint("hint1"), @Hint("hint2")})
class Person {}

Variant 2: Using repeatable annotations (new school)

@Hint("hint1")
@Hint("hint2")
class Person {}

Using variant 2 the java compiler implicitly sets up the @Hints annotation under the hood. That's important for reading annotation information via reflection.

Hint hint = Person.class.getAnnotation(Hint.class);
System.out.println(hint);
// null
Hints hints1 = Person.class.getAnnotation(Hints.class);
System.out.println(hints1.value().length);
// 2
Hint[] hints2 = Person.class.getAnnotationsByType(Hint.class);
System.out.println(hints2.length);
// 2

Although we never declared the @Hints annotation on the Person class, it's still readable via getAnnotation(Hints.class). However, the more convenient method is getAnnotationsByType which grants direct access to all annotated @Hint annotations.

Furthermore the usage of annotations in Java 8 is expanded to two new targets:

@Target({ElementType.TYPE_PARAMETER, ElementType.TYPE_USE})
@interface MyAnnotation {}

Where to go from here?

My programming guide to Java 8 ends here. If you want to learn more about all the new classes and features of the JDK 8 API, check out my JDK8 API Explorer. It helps you figuring out all the new classes and hidden gems of JDK 8, like Arrays.parallelSort, StampedLock and CompletableFuture - just to name a few.

I've also published a bunch of follow-up articles on my blog that might be interesting to you:

• Java 8 Stream Tutorial
• Java 8 Nashorn Tutorial
• Java 8 Concurrency Tutorial: Threads and Executors
• Java 8 Concurrency Tutorial: Synchronization and Locks
• Java 8 Concurrency Tutorial: Atomic Variables and ConcurrentMap
• Java 8 API by Example: Strings, Numbers, Math and Files
• Avoid Null Checks in Java 8
• Fixing Java 8 Stream Gotchas with IntelliJ IDEA
• Using Backbone.js with Java 8 Nashorn

You should follow me on Twitter. Thanks for reading!