New Classes in Java 8

Java (SE) 8 was released on the 18th of March 2014. Unlike previous releases it did not have a code name like Tiger or Dolphin. Spider was proposed as unofficial name on Code Ranch because of "8 legs, and a strong association with webs." It was an exciting release with huge changes, with probably similar or even larger impact than Java 5, which brought Generics. The new features (and the ones that did not make it into Java 8 yet) show that Java is on its way to be a modern and productive programming language.

Numbers
The rt.jar and other JARs located in the lib folder of the JRE contain many classes. For each new release I take a look at the new (public) classes. The list of new classes complements the list of new language features. Java 8 adds more than 1000 public classes, mainly in the packages javafx.*. Without JavaFX there are 251 added classes, similar to Java 7.


Lambdas and Streams
The major library changes are to support Lambda Expressions and the related Stream API. The new java.util.function package contains all types of possible function types.

java.lang.FunctionalInterface

java.lang.invoke.LambdaConversionException
java.lang.invoke.LambdaMetafactory
java.lang.invoke.MethodHandleInfo
java.lang.invoke.SerializedLambda

java.util.function.
BiFunction                Function                   Predicate
ToDoubleBiFunction        DoubleFunction             BiPredicate
ToIntBiFunction           IntFunction                DoublePredicate
ToLongBiFunction          LongFunction               IntPredicate
                                                     LongPredicate
BinaryOperator            DoubleToIntFunction
DoubleBinaryOperator      DoubleToLongFunction       Supplier
IntBinaryOperator         IntToDoubleFunction        BooleanSupplier
LongBinaryOperator        IntToLongFunction          DoubleSupplier
                          LongToDoubleFunction       IntSupplier
Consumer                  LongToIntFunction          LongSupplier
BiConsumer                ToDoubleFunction
DoubleConsumer            ToIntFunction              UnaryOperator
IntConsumer               ToLongFunction             DoubleUnaryOperator
LongConsumer                                         IntUnaryOperator
ObjDoubleConsumer                                    LongUnaryOperator
ObjIntConsumer
ObjLongConsumer

The Streams are in the package java.util.stream,

Stream
Stream$Builder
StreamSupport
BaseStream
DoubleStream
DoubleStream$Builder
IntStream
IntStream$Builder
LongStream
LongStream$Builder

Collector
Collector$Characteristics
Collectors

as well as some additions to java.util for splitting and collecting.

java.util.DoubleSummaryStatistics
java.util.IntSummaryStatistics
java.util.LongSummaryStatistics

java.util.Spliterator
java.util.Spliterator$OfDouble
java.util.Spliterator$OfInt
java.util.Spliterator$OfLong
java.util.Spliterator$OfPrimitive
java.util.Spliterators
java.util.Spliterators$AbstractDoubleSpliterator
java.util.Spliterators$AbstractIntSpliterator
java.util.Spliterators$AbstractLongSpliterator
java.util.Spliterators$AbstractSpliterator
java.util.SplittableRandom

java.util.StringJoiner

Java 8 Date and Time API
The next big change is the new date and time API. It contains a lot of new classes to model and use dates and time in your code.

java.time.Clock                     ...format.DateTimeFormatter
java.time.DateTimeException         ...format.DateTimeFormatterBuilder
java.time.DayOfWeek                 ...format.DateTimeParseException
java.time.Duration                  ...format.DecimalStyle
java.time.Instant                   ...format.FormatStyle
java.time.LocalDate                 ...format.ResolverStyle
java.time.LocalDateTime             ...format.SignStyle
java.time.LocalTime                 ...format.TextStyle
java.time.Month
java.time.MonthDay                  ...temporal.ChronoField
java.time.OffsetDateTime            ...temporal.ChronoUnit
java.time.OffsetTime                ...temporal.IsoFields
java.time.Period                    ...temporal.JulianFields
java.time.Year                      ...temporal.Temporal
java.time.YearMonth                 ...temporal.TemporalAccessor
java.time.ZonedDateTime             ...temporal.TemporalAdjuster
java.time.ZoneId                    ...temporal.TemporalAdjusters
java.time.ZoneOffset                ...temporal.TemporalAmount
                                    ...temporal.TemporalField
...chrono.AbstractChronology        ...temporal.TemporalQueries
...chrono.ChronoLocalDate           ...temporal.TemporalQuery
...chrono.ChronoLocalDateTime       ...temporal.TemporalUnit
...chrono.Chronology                ...temporal.UnsupportedTemporalTypeException
...chrono.ChronoPeriod              ...temporal.ValueRange
...chrono.ChronoZonedDateTime       ...temporal.WeekFields
...chrono.Era
...chrono.HijrahChronology          ...zone.ZoneOffsetTransition
...chrono.HijrahDate                ...zone.ZoneOffsetTransitionRule
...chrono.HijrahEra                 ...zone.ZoneOffsetTransitionRule$TimeDefinition
...chrono.IsoChronology             ...zone.ZoneRules
...chrono.IsoEra                    ...zone.ZoneRulesException
...chrono.JapaneseChronology        ...zone.ZoneRulesProvider
...chrono.JapaneseDate
...chrono.JapaneseEra
...chrono.MinguoChronology
...chrono.MinguoDate
...chrono.MinguoEra
...chrono.ThaiBuddhistChronology
...chrono.ThaiBuddhistDate
...chrono.ThaiBuddhistEra

And Other Classes
There are several new classes all over the place. The most notable are:

• Reflection for Type Annotations.
• Finally a Base 64 encoder and decoder.
• Optional.
• CompletableFuture and StampedLock.

java.lang.annotation.Native                      java.io.UncheckedIOException
java.lang.annotation.Repeatable
                                                 java.net.URLPermission
java.lang.reflect.AnnotatedArrayType
java.lang.reflect.AnnotatedParameterizedType     java.sql.DriverAction
java.lang.reflect.AnnotatedType                  java.sql.JDBCType
java.lang.reflect.AnnotatedTypeVariable          java.sql.SQLType
java.lang.reflect.AnnotatedWildcardType
java.lang.reflect.Executable                     java.util.Base64
java.lang.reflect.MalformedParametersException   java.util.Base64$Decoder
java.lang.reflect.Parameter                      java.util.Base64$Encoder

java.security.DomainLoadStoreParameter           java.util.Calendar$Builder
java.security.KeyStore$Entry$Attribute           java.util.Locale$FilteringMode
java.security.PKCS12Attribute                    java.util.Locale$LanguageRange
java.security.spec.DSAGenParameterSpec
                                                 java.util.Optional
java.security.cert.CertPathChecker               java.util.OptionalDouble
java.security.cert.PKIXRevocationChecker         java.util.OptionalInt
java.security.cert.PKIXRevocationChecker$Option  java.util.OptionalLong

java.util.spi.CalendarDataProvider               java.util.PrimitiveIterator
java.util.spi.CalendarNameProvider               java.util.PrimitiveIterator$OfDouble
java.util.spi.ResourceBundleControlProvider      java.util.PrimitiveIterator$OfInt
                                                 java.util.PrimitiveIterator$OfLong
java.util.concurrent.atomic.DoubleAccumulator
java.util.concurrent.atomic.DoubleAdder
java.util.concurrent.atomic.LongAccumulator
java.util.concurrent.atomic.LongAdder

java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture
java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$AsynchronousCompletionTask
java.util.concurrent.CompletionException
java.util.concurrent.CompletionStage
java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap$KeySetView
java.util.concurrent.CountedCompleter

java.util.concurrent.locks.StampedLock

Additional changes cover additions to UI capabilities - JavaFX is now part of the JRE. The Java Language Model has been updated (javax.lang.model) and Rhino has been replaced by Nashorn (package jdk.nashorn). There are more changes, e.g. stronger security algorithms, but these do not show up as new classes.

Summary
Java 8 brings big changes for the language, finally adding closures to Java. This is as ground breaking as Java 5's Generics. Lambdas and Streams will change the way we write Java and allow a more functional style in our code.

You can download the complete list of all classes available in Java 8. Each class name is annotated with [release] showing the release it first appeared, e.g. java.lang.annotation.Annotation [5]. Package access classes are marked by a lowercase p, e.g. java.lang.CharacterName [7p].