Real world example of using a functional interface in Java

Question

I know a functional interface means you can have exactly/only 1 abstract method with more than 1 default method(s) but I am wondering how to relate to it with a real-world example/situation of using a functional interface in Java.

Could you give a valid situation/example?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

First of all annotation @FunctionalInterface is used by Java's built-in functional interfaces Predicate,Function,Consumer, etc...

From the other hand you may want to create your custom one like the following:

@FunctionalInterface
public interface ThrowingConsumer<T> {
    void accept(T t) throws CustomException;
}

Then you can use it as a method parameter:

public <T, R> void doSomething(T value, ThrowingConsumer<T, R> consumer) {
    // ...
}

And then call it like this:

doSomething(someValue, this::customConsumerMethodThrowingAnException);

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It is worth to mention that @FunctionalInterface is not required. The compiler will be perfectly fine with any interface meeting the requirements.

The compiler treats it in a way similar to dealing with @Override annotation. The code compiles even without it. But once added it makes the code clearer and safer for the ones who will maintain the code in the future.

Answer 2

We've always had functional interfaces before JDK8 but no lambdas, method references etc.

As of JDK8, they provide a target type for lambda expressions, method references and in turn, have better readability and more compact code.

Example, prior to Java-8 if you wanted to provide some logic that will be executed each time a Button component is clicked you'd do:

 btn.setOnAction(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>() { 
       @Override
       public void handle(ActionEvent event) {
            System.out.println("Hello World!");
       }
 });

This is bulky, hard to read and not compact enough. because EventHandler is by definition a functional interface i.e. it has a SAM as of jdk8 you can now do:

btn.setOnAction(event -> System.out.println("Hello World!"));

You only see the part of the code you care about i.e. the logic to be executed when the button is clicked.

Further, due to the fact that we can use functional interfaces as target types for lambda expressions & methods references, this would be useful when:

• passing a comparator to a sort method e.g. List.sort, Stream.sorted, Collections.sort etc.
• passing a block of code to run a task in a separate thread

etc...

while keeping the code readable, compact and concise.

Functional interfaces are used extensively in the Java-stream API.

There's no reason for you to create your own functional interface except there's not one that meets your requirements from java.util.function or the name of the functional interface is not as readable so thus you may create your own.

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There's also a @FunctionalInterface annotation recommended to be used but not required whenever you're creating a functional interface (the standard library uses this a lot).

This enables the compiler to check that the annotated entity is an interface with a single abstract method otherwise gives an error.

This is also quite helpful in being able to catch errors when refactoring your code.

Answer 3

One of the primary use that they've provided is that the instances of functional interfaces can be created with lambda expressions and method references as well as using a constructor at the same time. For example, a functional interface Sample defined as:

@FunctionalInterface
public interface Sample {
    void ab();
}

can be instantiated in as simple as a single line of code as :

Sample sample = () -> System.out.println("ab called");

and then called wherever required as:

sample.ab();

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I would further quote the Javadoc from the java.util.function package:

Functional interfaces can provide a target type in multiple contexts, such as assignment context, method invocation, or cast context:

 // Assignment context
 Predicate<String> p = String::isEmpty;

 // Method invocation context
 stream.filter(e -> e.getSize() > 10)...

 // Cast context
 stream.map((ToIntFunction) e -> e.getSize())...

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Furthermore, such interfaces could be annotated with @FunctionalInterface annotation.

This annotation is not a requirement for the compiler to recognize an interface as a functional interface, but merely an aid to capture design intent and enlist the help of the compiler in identifying accidental violations of design intent.

Also a worthy point for using the concepts with existing such interfaces,

the compiler will treat any interface meeting the definition of a functional interface as a functional interface regardless of whether or not a FunctionalInterface annotation is present on the interface declaration.

Answer 4

Interfaces which are marked with FunctionalInterface are guaranteed to be applicable in contexts where a lambda expression with appropriate parameter and return types is expected. Besides that, they have no usage. There might be some optimizations, but in all cases it doesnt matter

Answer 5

Lambdas are implementations of Functional interface...so either implicitly (by a compiler or at run-time) or explicitly (by code...assignment) they are going to be used. Practical example is

1. Predicate : usage across code for filtering.
2. Functions : Map.computeIfAbsent("xxx", s -> s.length());
3. BiFunction : salaries.replaceAll((name, oldValue) -> name.equals("Freddy") ? oldValue : oldValue + 10000);
4. Consumers : List.forEach(name -> System.out.println("Hello, " + name));