Java Language Tutorial => Using Streams and Method References to...

Example

Method references make excellent self-documenting code, and using method references with Streams makes complicated processes simple to read and understand. Consider the following code:

public interface Ordered {
    default int getOrder(){
        return 0;
    }
}

public interface Valued<V extends Ordered> {
    boolean hasPropertyTwo();
    V getValue();
}

public interface Thing<V extends Ordered> {
    boolean hasPropertyOne();
    Valued<V> getValuedProperty();
}

public <V extends Ordered> List<V> myMethod(List<Thing<V>> things) {
    List<V> results = new ArrayList<V>();
    for (Thing<V> thing : things) {
        if (thing.hasPropertyOne()) {
            Valued<V> valued = thing.getValuedProperty();
            if (valued != null && valued.hasPropertyTwo()){
                V value = valued.getValue();
                if (value != null){
                    results.add(value);
                }
            }
        }
    }
    results.sort((a, b)->{
        return Integer.compare(a.getOrder(), b.getOrder());
    });
    return results;
}

This last method rewritten using Streams and method references is much more legible and each step of the process is quickly and easily understood - it's not just shorter, it also shows at a glance which interfaces and classes are responsible for the code in each step:

public <V extends Ordered> List<V> myMethod(List<Thing<V>> things) {
    return things.stream()
        .filter(Thing::hasPropertyOne)
        .map(Thing::getValuedProperty)
        .filter(Objects::nonNull)
        .filter(Valued::hasPropertyTwo)
        .map(Valued::getValue)
        .filter(Objects::nonNull)
        .sorted(Comparator.comparing(Ordered::getOrder))
        .collect(Collectors.toList());
}

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Java Language Streams Using Streams and Method References to Write Self-Documenting Processes

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