Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > comp.lang.java.programmer > #26884

Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes

Show key headers only | View raw

On 12/04/2013 03:07 PM, Sebastian wrote:
> Someone made a passing comment in another thread to the effect that Java
> 8 lambdas ("closures") were nothing but syntactic sugar for (anonymous)
> inner classes. Here are a three differences:
>
> 1) lambdas can only instantiate "functional" (single abstract method)
> interfaces

I don't see this as being important. That's actually what Java lambdas 
are for, to provide a shorthand for instances of single-method classes. 
That's all they are for.

> 2) lambdas have different scoping rules ("this" means different things)

No argument here, the scoping is somewhat different.

> 3) lambdas perform better due to the use of the invokedynamic JVM
> instruction. Type representation, instance creation, and invocation
> strategy are decided at runtime. This offers optimization potentials,
> because evaluating a lambda expression need not create a new instance
> each time. There could be „shared lambdas“ through use of a constant
> static method in a constant pool, needing no new class and/or new object.

To put it bluntly, who cares? The last time I ran into a speed 
bottleneck with any language was over a decade ago. The last time I ran 
into memory issues with any language was just this year, it happened to 
be Java, and the problem was easily solved by jacking up VM RAM - JVMs 
with most apps are somewhat of memory pigs, and I doubt that Java 8 
lambdas are going to help much with that problem.

> This is quite a bit more than what I'd call "syntactic sugar".
>
> -- Sebastian

In a way they are just syntactic sugar. Most Java programmers will be 
unimpressed with your first point - if they don't completely miss it, 
they won't even (most of them) notice your second point (until it bites 
them and they sort of muddle through), and they won't even understand 
what the hell you are talking about wrt your third point: most 
developers work M-F 9-5 and don't have the time nor the inclination to 
get particularly good at their profession.

AHS
-- 
When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign:
that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.
-- Jonathan Swift

Back to comp.lang.java.programmer | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread

Thread

Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes Sebastian <news@seyweiler.dyndns.org> - 2013-12-04 20:07 +0100
  Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes Sven Köhler <remove-sven.koehler@gmail.com> - 2013-12-04 22:27 +0200
    Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes Patrick Roemer <sangamon@netcologne.de> - 2013-12-05 00:38 +0100
    Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes v_borchert@despammed.com (Volker Borchert) - 2013-12-04 23:45 +0000
  Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2013-12-06 13:28 -0800
    Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2013-12-14 16:46 -0500
  Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom2@eastlink.ca> - 2013-12-14 03:13 -0400
    Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes "Chris Uppal" <chris.uppal@metagnostic.REMOVE-THIS.org> - 2013-12-14 12:03 +0000
      Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2013-12-14 17:02 -0500
        Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom2@eastlink.ca> - 2013-12-15 14:33 -0400
    Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2013-12-14 17:00 -0500
      Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom2@eastlink.ca> - 2013-12-15 15:05 -0400
        Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes Wanja Gayk <brixomatic@yahoo.com> - 2013-12-17 20:09 +0100
          Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom2@eastlink.ca> - 2013-12-20 22:28 -0400
            Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes lipska the kat <"lipskathekat at yahoo dot co dot uk"> - 2013-12-21 11:54 +0000
              Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes Joerg Meier <joergmmeier@arcor.de> - 2013-12-21 18:27 +0100
                Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes lipska the kat <"lipskathekat at yahoo dot co dot uk"> - 2013-12-21 18:23 +0000
                Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes Tim Slattery <tim@risingdove.com> - 2013-12-21 14:56 -0500
                Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes lipska the kat <"lipskathekat at yahoo dot co dot uk"> - 2013-12-21 20:10 +0000
                Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes lipska the kat <"lipskathekat at yahoo dot co dot uk"> - 2013-12-21 21:18 +0000
              Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom2@eastlink.ca> - 2013-12-21 14:52 -0400
                Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes lipska the kat <"lipskathekat at yahoo dot co dot uk"> - 2013-12-21 19:35 +0000
                Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom2@eastlink.ca> - 2013-12-21 19:34 -0400
                Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes leif.roar@invalid.com (Leif Roar Moldskred) - 2013-12-22 05:02 -0600
                Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes lipska the kat <"lipskathekat at yahoo dot co dot uk"> - 2013-12-22 11:12 +0000
                Re: Java 8 closures vs. anonymous inner classes Wanja Gayk <brixomatic@yahoo.com> - 2013-12-22 21:24 +0100

csiph-web