Eagerly anticipated by millions of programmers, Java SE 8 is the most important Java update in many years. Now, internationally renowned Java expert Cay S. Horstmann ("Core Java") concisely introduces Java 8's most valuable new features (plus a few Java 7 innovations that haven't gotten the attention they deserve). If you're an experienced Java programmer, Horstmann's practical insights and sample code will help you quickly take advantage of these and other Java language and platform improvements: * Using Lambda expressions (closures) to write computation "snippets" that can be passed to common utility functions, making Java collections far more flexible * Major updates to concurrent programming that make use of lambda expressions (filter/map/reduce) and improve Java's fork-join framework * The long-awaited introduction of a well-designed date/time/calendar library (JSR 310) * Annotations on Java types to support useful pluggable type checkers and refine Java's built-in type system * Java/JavaScript integration via Project Nashorn * Transition to the JavaFX API as the official way to build media-rich, highly interactive client-side Java applications * Simpler tuning of HotSpot JVM garbage collection The first book to cover all these highly-anticipated improvements, Cay Horstmann's Java SE 8 for the Really Impatient will be indispensable to everyone who wants to write tomorrow's most robust, efficient, and secure Java code.