Project Lambda

JSR 335 (Lambda Expressions for the Java^TM Programming Language) aims to support programming in a multicore environment by adding closures and related features to the Java language.

JSR 335 is part of JSR 337 (Java SE 8). The Early Draft Review #2 of JSR 335 has been published.

The goal of OpenJDK Project Lambda is to host a prototype implementation of JSR 335 suitable for inclusion in JDK 8, the Reference Implementation of Java SE 8. The prototype implementation is discussed on the lambda-dev mailing list.

The prototype compiler is being implemented in OpenJDK.

• Source code is available at hg.openjdk.java.net/lambda/lambda.
• Binary snapshots of the lambda-enabled JDK prototype are available at jdk8.java.net/lambda.

Maurice Naftalin has written a set of answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Lambda.

This Project is sponsored by the Compiler Group.

IDE Support

IDEs are starting to gain some experimental support for Lambda.

• Netbeans 8 Nightly Builds with experimental Lambda support
• IDEA 12 EAP with experimental Lambda support

Working documents

• Early Draft Review #2
• State of the Lambda v4 (Describes the proposed scope and features of closures)
• Defender methods v4 (PDF; describes a feature for pragmatic interface evolution)
• Formal model for extension method linkage (March 27, 2012) (PDF)
• State of the Lambda: Libraries Edition (November 2012)
• Translation of Lambda Expressions (April 2012)

Older documents

• State of the Lambda: Libraries Edition (April 2012)
• Early Draft Review #1
• State of the Lambda v3
• Defender methods v3
• Closures for Java (Nov 2009)
• Closures for Java: The Q&A (Dec 2009)
• Straw-Man Proposal (Dec 2009)
• Java Language Specification draft, based on the Straw-Man Proposal (Jan 2010)