What are functional interfaces used for in Java 8?

Question

I came across a new term in Java 8: "functional interface". I could only find one use of it while working with lambda expressions.

Java 8 provides

Answer 1

Functional Interface:

• Introduced in Java 8
• Interface that contains a "single abstract" method.

Example 1:

   interface CalcArea {   // --functional interface
        double calcArea(double rad);
    }           

Example 2:

interface CalcGeometry { // --functional interface
    double calcArea(double rad);
    default double calcPeri(double rad) {
        return 0.0;
    }
}       

Example 3:

interface CalcGeometry {  // -- not functional interface
    double calcArea(double rad);
    double calcPeri(double rad);
}   

Java8 annotation -- @FunctionalInterface

• Annotation check that interface contains only one abstract method. If not, raise error.
• Even though @FunctionalInterface missing, it is still functional interface (if having single abstract method). The annotation helps avoid mistakes.
• Functional interface may have additional static & default methods.
• e.g. Iterable<>, Comparable<>, Comparator<>.

Applications of Functional Interface:

• Method references
• Lambda Expression
• Constructor references

To learn functional interfaces, learn first default methods in interface, and after learning functional interface, it will be easy to you to understand method reference and lambda expression