Java 8 - Functional Interfaces

Functional interfaces have a single functionality to exhibit. For example, a Comparable interface with a single method ‘compareTo’ is used for comparison purpose. Java 8 has defined a lot of functional interfaces to be used extensively in lambda expressions. Following is the list of functional interfaces defined in java.util.Function package.

Given below is the list of interfaces in Java8.

Functional Interface Example

Predicate <T> interface is a functional interface with a method test(Object) to return a Boolean value. This interface signifies that an object is tested to be true or false.

Create the following Java program using any editor of your choice in, say, C:\> JAVA.

Java8Tester.java

 Live Demo

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.function.Predicate;

public class Java8Tester {

   public static void main(String args[]) {
      List<Integer> list = Arrays.asList(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9);
  
      // Predicate<Integer> predicate = n -> true
      // n is passed as parameter to test method of Predicate interface
      // test method will always return true no matter what value n has.
  
      System.out.println("Print all numbers:");
  
      //pass n as parameter
      eval(list, n->true);
  
      // Predicate<Integer> predicate1 = n -> n%2 == 0
      // n is passed as parameter to test method of Predicate interface
      // test method will return true if n%2 comes to be zero
  
      System.out.println("Print even numbers:");
      eval(list, n-> n%2 == 0 );
  
      // Predicate<Integer> predicate2 = n -> n > 3
      // n is passed as parameter to test method of Predicate interface
      // test method will return true if n is greater than 3.
  
      System.out.println("Print numbers greater than 3:");
      eval(list, n-> n > 3 );
   }
 
   public static void eval(List<Integer> list, Predicate<Integer> predicate) {

      for(Integer n: list) {

         if(predicate.test(n)) {
            System.out.println(n + " ");
         }
      }
   }
}

Here we've passed Predicate interface, which takes a single input and returns Boolean.

Verify the Result

Compile the class using javac compiler as follows −

C:\JAVA>javac Java8Tester.java

Now run the Java8Tester as follows −

C:\JAVA>java Java8Tester

It should produce the following output −

Print all numbers:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Print even numbers:
2
4
6
8
Print numbers greater than 3:
4
5
6
7
8
9