Book Image

Learn Java with Projects

By : Dr. Seán Kennedy, Maaike van Putten
5 (3)
Book Image

Learn Java with Projects

5 (3)
By: Dr. Seán Kennedy, Maaike van Putten

Overview of this book

Learn Java with Projects stands out in the world of Java guides; while some books skim the surface and others get lost in too much detail, this one finds a nice middle ground. You’ll begin by exploring the fundamentals of Java, from its primitive data types through to loops and arrays. Next, you’ll move on to object-oriented programming (OOP), where you’ll get to grips with key topics such as classes, objects, encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism, interfaces, and more. The chapters are designed in a way that focuses on topics that really matter in real-life work situations. No extra fluff here, so that you get more time to spend on the basics and form a solid foundation. As you make progress, you’ll learn advanced topics including generics, collections, lambda expressions, streams and concurrency. This book doesn't just talk about theory—it shows you how things work with little projects, which eventually add up to one big project that brings it all together. By the end of this Java book, you’ll have sound practical knowledge of Java and a helpful guide to walk you through the important parts of Java.
Table of Contents (22 chapters)
1
Part 1: Java Fundamentals
9
Part 2: Object-Oriented Programming
15
Part 3: Advanced Topics

Lambda Expressions

In this chapter, we will cover lambda expressions, which is one of my favorite features. Introduced in Java 8, lambda expressions (lambdas) brought functional programming to Java. First, we will define a functional interface and its relationship with lambdas. We will demonstrate both custom and API-based lambda expressions. We will also explain the concept of “final or effectively final” concerning local variables used inside a lambda expression.

After that, we will cover method references. We will discuss and present example code showing bound, unbound, static, and constructor method references. Lastly, we will explain the critical nature of context in understanding method references.

This chapter covers the following main topics:

  • Understanding lambda expressions
  • Exploring functional interfaces from the API
  • Mastering method references