Functional Programming in Java: lambdas and beyond

Finally also Java, with its 8th major release, will have lambda expressions and then will allow to employ some functional techniques into its strongly object oriented paradigm. But why this decision has been taken, what will be its consequences, how will it change the way we write Java and, most important, how can we leverage it to develop more expressive, readable, reusable and effective software? After a quick introduction to the syntax of the new lambda expressions, the main purpose of this talk is to answer these questions, showing how functional programming can make us better Java developer and help to avoid or limit some bad habits inherited from our OOP backgroud, like the abuse of side effects, null references and exceptions in our code.