Java 8 Stream API and RxJava Comparison

@JosePaumard
RxJava
J8 Stream
Comparison:
patterns & performances

Why should we be
interested in the
Streams API?

@JosePaumard#J8Stream
It’s all about data processing
Up to 2014: only one tool, the Collection Framework
Also 3rd party API: Common Collections, …

Up to 2014: only one tool, the Collection Framework
Also 3rd party API: Common Collections, …
From 2014: so many new APIs

Why so?
Because data processing is more and more important

Why so?
And more and more complex!

Why so?
Bigger and bigger amount of data to process

Why so?
Controlled response time

Why so?
Controlled response time
Complex algorithm

So data processing needs high level primitives

Able to access data wherever it is

That provides map / filter / reduce functions

And efficient implementations of those!

And efficient implementations of those!
Most probably implemented in parallel

Agenda
1) To present two API: the Java 8 Stream API and RxJava
• Fundamentals
• Implemented functionalities
• Patterns!

Agenda
1) To present two API: the Java 8 Stream API and RxJava
• Fundamentals
• Implemented functionalities
• Patterns!
2) And to compare those APIs
• From the developer point of view
• Performances!

Questions?
#J8Stream

API Stream
What is a Java 8 Stream?
An object that connects to a source

API Stream
That does not hold any data

API Stream
That implements the map / filter / reduce pattern

API Stream
That implements the map / filter / reduce pattern
A new concept in JDK 8

API Stream
Example
List<String> list = Arrays.asList("one", "two", "three") ;
list.stream()
.map(s -> s.toUpperCase())
.max(Comparator.comparing(s -> s.length()))
.ifPresent(s -> System.out.println(s)) ;

API Stream
Example
list.stream() // creation of a new Stream object

API Stream
Example
list.stream()
.map(s -> s.toUpperCase()) // to upper case

API Stream
Example
list.stream()
.max(Comparator.comparing(s -> s.length())) // take the longest s

API Stream
Example
list.stream()
.ifPresent(s -> System.out.println(s)) ; // and print the result

API Stream
Example
list.stream()
.map(String::toUpperCase)
.max(Comparator.comparing(String::length))
.ifPresent(System.out::println) ; // and print the result

Collectors
We can use collectors
List<Person> list = ... ;
list.stream()
.filter(person -> person.getAge() > 30)
.collect(
Collectors.groupingBy(
Person::getAge, // key extractor
Collectors.counting() // downstream collector
)
) ;

Collectors
Map<
list.stream()
.collect(
)
) ;

Collectors
Map<Integer,
list.stream()
.collect(
)
) ;

Collectors
Map<Integer, Long> map =
list.stream()
.collect(
)
) ;

Collectors
And we can go parallel!
list.stream().parallel()
.collect(
)
) ;

Sources of a Stream
Many ways of connecting a Stream to a source of data

Sources of a Stream
First patterns to create a Stream
List<Person> people = Arrays.asList(p1, p2, p3);

Sources of a Stream
Stream<Person> stream = people.stream();

Sources of a Stream
Stream<Person> stream = people.stream();
Stream<Person> stream = Stream.of(p1, p2, p3);

More patterns
Stream on String
String crazy = "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious";
IntStream letters = crazy.chars();
long count = letters.distinct().count();

More patterns
Stream on String
long count = letters.distinct().count();
> count = 15

More patterns
Stream on String
letters.boxed().collect(
Function.identity(),
Collectors.counting()
)
);

More patterns
Stream on String
Map<
)
);

More patterns
Stream on String
Map<Integer,
)
);

More patterns
Stream on String
)
);

More patterns
Stream built on the lines of a file
String book = "alice-in-wonderland.txt";
Stream<String> lines = Files.lines(Paths.get(book)); // autocloseable

More patterns
Stream built on the lines of a file
Stream built the words of a String
String book = "alice-in-wonderland.txt";
Stream<String> lines = Files.lines(Paths.get(book)); // autocloseable
String line = "Alice was beginning to get very tired of";
Stream<String> words = Pattern.compile(" ").splitAsStream(line);

Flatmap
How to mix both to get all the words of a book?
Function<String, Stream<String>> splitToWords =
line -> Pattern.compile(" ").splitAsStream(line);
Stream<String> lines = Files.lines(path);
Stream<String> words = lines.flatMap(splitToWords);

Flatmap
Analyzing the result
long count =
words.filter(word -> word.length() > 2)
.map(String::toLowerCase)
.distinct()
.count();

Flatmap
Another analysis of the result
words.filter(word -> word.length() > 2)
.map(String::toLowerCase)
// .distinct()
.collect(
String::length,
)
);

Extracting the max from a Map
Yet another analysis of the result
map.entrySet().stream()
.sorted(
Entry.<Integer, Long>comparingByValue().reversed()
)
.limit(3)
.forEach(System.out::println);

Connecting a Stream on a source
Connecting a Stream on a non-standard source is possible

Connecting a Stream on a non-standard source is possible
A Stream is built on 2 things:
- A spliterator (comes from split and iterator)
- A ReferencePipeline (the implementation)

The Spliterator is meant to be overriden
public interface Spliterator<T> {
boolean tryAdvance(Consumer<? super T> action) ;
Spliterator<T> trySplit() ;
long estimateSize();
int characteristics();
}

The Spliterator is meant to be overriden
public interface Spliterator<T> {
boolean tryAdvance(Consumer<? super T> action) ;
Spliterator<T> trySplit(); // not needed for non-parallel processings
long estimateSize(); // can return 0
int characteristics(); // returns a constant
}

Examples of custom Spliterators
Suppose we have a Stream [1, 2, 3, …]
We want to regroup the elements: [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6], …]
Let us build a GroupingSpliterator to do that

GroupingSpliterator
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, …] -> [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6], [7, 8, 9], …]
public class GroupingSpliterator<E> implements Spliterator<Stream<E>> {
private final long grouping ;
private final Spliterator<E> spliterator ;
// implementation
}
GroupingSpliterator<Integer> gs =
new GroupingSpliterator(spliterator, grouping);

GroupingSpliterator
Implementing estimateSize() and characteristics()
public long estimateSize() {
return spliterator.estimateSize() / grouping ;
}
public int characteristics() {
return this.spliterator.characteristics();
}

GroupingSpliterator
Implementing trySplit()
public Spliterator<Stream<E>> trySplit() {
Spliterator<E> spliterator = this.spliterator.trySplit() ;
return new GroupingSpliterator<E>(spliterator, grouping) ;
}

GroupingSpliterator
Implementing tryAdvance()
public boolean tryAdvance(Consumer<? super Stream<E>> action) {
// should call action.accept() with the next element of the Stream
// and return true if more elements are to be consumed
return true ; // false when we are done
}

GroupingSpliterator
The structure of the resulting Stream is the following:
[[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6], [7, 8, 9], …]
Each element is a Stream built on the elements of the
underlying Stream

GroupingSpliterator
Build a Stream element by element is done with a
Stream.Builder
Stream.Builder<E> builder = Stream.builder() ;
for (int i = 0 ; i < grouping ; i++) {
spliterator.tryAdvance(element -> builder.add(element);
}
Stream<E> subStream = subBuilder.build(); // [1, 2, 3]

GroupingSpliterator
How do we know if we are done with the underlying Stream?
spliterator.tryAdvance(
element -> builder.add(element)
);
}

GroupingSpliterator
spliterator.tryAdvance( // when this call returns false
element -> builder.add(element)
);
}

GroupingSpliterator
boolean finished = false;
if (spliterator.tryAdvance(element -> builder.add(element)))
finished = true;
}

GroupingSpliterator
boolean finished = false;
if (spliterator.tryAdvance(element -> builder.add(element)))
finished = true;
}
action.accept(subStream) ;
return !finished ;
}

RollingSpliterator
What about building a Stream like this one:
[[1, 2, 3], [2, 3, 4], [3, 4, 5], …]
This time we need a ring buffer

RollingSpliterator
The tryAdvance() call on the underlying Stream becomes this:
bufferWriteIndex is an AtomicLong
private boolean advanceSpliterator() {
return spliterator.tryAdvance(
element -> {
buffer[bufferWriteIndex.get() % buffer.length] = element ;
bufferWriteIndex.incrementAndGet() ;
});
}

RollingSpliterator
Building the element streams from the ring buffer:
private Stream<E> buildSubstream() {
Stream.Builder<E> subBuilder = Stream.builder() ;
subBuilder.add(
(E)buffer[(i + bufferReadIndex.get()) % buffer.length]
) ;
}
bufferReadIndex.incrementAndGet() ;
Stream<E> subStream = subBuilder.build() ;
return subStream ;
}

RollingSpliterator
Putting things together to build the tryAdvance() call

boolean finished = false ;
if (bufferWriteIndex.get() == bufferReadIndex.get()) {
if (!advanceSpliterator()) {
finished = true ;
}
}
}
if (!advanceSpliterator()) {
finished = true ;
}
Stream<E> subStream = buildSubstream() ;
action.accept(subStream) ;
return !finished ;
}

Spliterator on Spliterator
We saw how to build a Stream on another Stream by
rearranging its elements
What about building a Stream by merging the elements of
other Streams?

Spliterator on Spliterators
Let us take two Streams:
[1, 2, 3, 4, …]
[a, b, c, d, …]
And build a ZippingSpliterator:
[F(1, a), F(2, b), F(3, c), …]

What about
estimateSize()
trySplit()
characteristics()?
They are the same as the underlying streams

We then need to implement tryAdvance()
Where transform is a BiFunction
public boolean tryAdvance(Consumer<? super R> action) {
return spliterator1.tryAdvance(
e1 -> {
spliterator2.tryAdvance(e2 -> {
action.accept(tranform.apply(e1, e2)) ;
}) ;
}) ;
}

ZippingSpliterator
What about creating a Builder for this Spliterator?
ZippingSpliterator.Builder<String, String, String> builder =
new ZippingSpliterator.Builder();
ZippingSpliterator<String,String,String> zippingSpliterator = builder
.with(spliterator1)
.and(spliterator2)
.mergedBy((e1, e2) -> e1 + " - " + e2)
.build();

ZippingSpliterator
The complete pattern:
Stream<String> stream1 = Stream.of("one", "two", "three");
Stream<Integer> stream2 = Stream.of(1, 2, 3);
Spliterator<String> spliterator1 = stream1.spliterator();
Spliterator<Integer> spliterator2 = stream2.spliterator();
Stream<String> zipped =
StreamSupport.stream(zippingSpliterator, false);

What did we do with Streams so far?
We took one stream and built a stream by regrouping its
elements in some ways

We took to streams and we merged them, element by
element, using a bifunction

What about taking one element at a time, from different
streams?

The WeavingSpliterator
We have N streams, and we want to build a stream that takes:
- 1st element from the 1st stream
- 2nd element from the 2nd stream, etc…

The estimateSize():
public long estimateSize() {
int size = 0 ;
for (Spliterator<E> spliterator : this.spliterators) {
size += spliterator.estimateSize() ;
}
return size ;
}

The tryAdvance():
private AtomicInteger whichOne = new AtomicInteger();
public boolean tryAdvance(Consumer<? super E> action) {
return spliterators[whichOne.getAndIncrement() %
spliterators.length]
.tryAdvance(action);
}

We took a collection of streams and built a stream by taking
elements from them, in a given order

Wrap-up for the Stream API
The Java 8 Stream API is not just about implementing map /
filter / reduce of building hashmaps
We can use it to manipulate data in advanced ways:
- by deciding on what source we want to connect
- by deciding how we can consume the data from that source

RxJava
Open source API, available on Github
Developed by Netflix
RxJava is the Java version of ReactiveX
.NET
Python, Kotlin, JavaScript, Scala, Ruby, Groovy, Rust
Android
https://github.com/ReactiveX/RxJava

RxJava
RxJava is not an alternative implementation of Java 8
Streams, nor the Collection framework
It is an implementation of the Reactor pattern

RxJava
The central class is the Observable class

RxJava
It’s big: ~10k lines of code

RxJava
It’s complex: ~100 static methods, ~150 non-static methods

RxJava
It’s complex: ~100 static methods, ~150 non-static methods
It’s complex: not only because there is a lot of things in it, but
also because the concepts are complex

RxJava
Interface Observer
used to « observe » an observable

RxJava
Interface Observer
used to « observe » an observable
Interface Subscription
used to model the link between an observer and an
observable

Interface Observer
A simple interface
public interface Observer<T> {
public void onNext(T t);
public void onCompleted();
public void onError(Throwable e);
}

How to subscribe
Subscribing to an observable
Observable<T> observable = ... ;
Subscription subscription = observable.subscribe(observer) ;

How to subscribe
Subscribing to an observable
Observable<T> observable = ... ;
Subscription subscription = observable.subscribe(observer) ;
public interface Subscription {
public void unsubscribe();
public void isUnsubscribe();
}

RxJava – agenda
Patterns to create Observables
How to merge observables together
Hot observables / backpressure

The usual ways
Observable from collections and arrays
Observable<String> obs1 = Observable.just("one", "two", "three") ;
List<String> strings = Arrays.asList("one", "two", "three") ;
Observable<String> obs2 = Observable.from(strings) ;

The usual ways
Observable useful for tests
Observable<String> empty = Observable.empty() ;
Observable<String> never = Observable.never() ;
Observable<String> error = Observable.<String>error(exception) ;

The usual ways
Series and time series
Observable<Long> longs = Observable.range(1L, 100L) ;
// interval
Observable<Long> timeSerie1 =
Observable.interval(1L, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS) ; // a serie of longs
// initial delay, then interval
Observable<Long> timeSerie2 =
Observable.timer(10L, 1L, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS) ; // one 0

The usual ways
The using() method
public final static <T, Resource> Observable<T> using(
final Func0<Resource> resourceFactory, // producer
final Func1<Resource, Observable<T>> observableFactory, // function
final Action1<? super Resource> disposeAction // consumer
) { }

How using() works
1) a resource is created using the resourceFactory
2) an observable is created from the resource using the
observableFactory
3) this observable is further decorated with actions for
exception handling

RxJava & executors
Some of those methods take a further argument
Scheduler is an interface (in fact an abstract class, to define
« default methods » in Java 7)
Schedulers should be used to create schedulers
Observable<Long> longs = Observable.range(0L, 100L, scheduler) ;

Schedulers
Factory Schedulers
public final class Schedulers {
public static Scheduler immediate() {...} // immediate
public static Scheduler newThread() {...} // new thread
public static Scheduler trampoline() {...} // queued in the current
// thread
}

Schedulers
Factory Schedulers
public final class Schedulers {
public static Scheduler computation() {...} // computation ES
public static Scheduler io() {...} // IO growing ES
public static Scheduler test() {...}
public static Scheduler from(Executor executor) {...}
}

Schedulers
Schedulers can be seen as Executors
Some of them are specialized (IO, Computation)
Observers are called in the thread that runs the Observable

Schedulers
The Schedulers.from(executor) is useful to call observers in
certain threads
For instance:
Scheduler swingScheduler =
Schedulers.from(
SwingUtilities::invokeLater
);

A 1st example
A simple example
Observable<Integer> range1To100 = Observable.range(1L, 100L) ;
range1To100.subscribe(System.out::println) ;

A 1st example
A simple example
Observable<Integer> range1To100 = Observable.range(1L, 100L) ;
range1To100.subscribe(System.out::println) ;
> 1 2 3 4 ... 100

A 2nd example
A not so simple example
Observable<Integer> timer = Observable.timer(1, TimeUnit.SECONDS) ;
timer.subscribe(System.out::println) ;

A 2nd example
A not so simple example
Nothing is printed
timer.subscribe(System.out::println) ;
>

A 2nd example
Let us modify this code
timer.subscribe(() -> {
System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " " +
Thread.currentThread().isDaemon()) ;
}) ;
Thread.sleep(2) ;

A 2nd example
Let us modify this code
timer.subscribe(() -> {
System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " " +
Thread.currentThread().isDaemon()) ;
}) ;
Thread.sleep(2) ;
> RxComputationThreadPool-1 - true

About the 1st & 2nd examples
The first example ran in the main thread

The second example ran in a daemon thread, that does not
prevent the JVM from exiting. Nothing was printed out,
because it did not have the time to be executed.

The second example ran in a daemon thread, that does not
prevent the JVM from exiting. Nothing was printed out,
because it did not have the time to be executed.
Observable are ran in their own schedulers (executors)

Merging Observable together
RxJava provides a collection of methods to merge
observables together

Merging Observable together
RxJava provides a collection of methods to merge
observables together
With many different, very interesting semantics

The ambiguous operator
The first operator is amb(), that stands for « ambiguous »
It takes the first Observable that produced data
©RxJava
O1
O2
result

The zip operator
The zip operator takes one element from each Observable
and combine them using a function
©RxJava
O1
O2
F(O1, O2)

The combine latest operator
The combineLatest is a non-strict zip operator, emits an item
each time an observable emits one
©RxJava
O1
O2
F(O1, O2)

Concat and merge
Concat: emits O1 and then O2, without mixing them, merge
stops on the emission of an error
©RxJava©RxJava

Observables of Observables
The methods we saw are defined on Iterables of Observables
public final static <T> Observable<T> merge(
Iterable<Observable<T>> listOfSequences) { }

The methods we saw are defined on Iterables of Observables
They are also defined on Observables of Observables
Observable<Observable<T>> sequenceOfSequences) { }

And the marble diagrams are different
©RxJava

Then comes the switchOnNext operator
public final static <T> Observable<T> switchOnNext(
©RxJava

A 3rd example
A little more tricky
Observable<Integer> range = Observable.range(1, 100) ;
Observable<String> manyStrings =
Observable.combineLatest(
range, Observable.just("one"),
(integer, string) -> string) ;

A 3rd example
> one (and nothing more)

A 3rd example
> one (and nothing more)
Combines two source Observables
by emitting an item that
aggregates
the latest values of each of the
source Observables
each time an item is received from
either of the source Observables,
where this aggregation is defined
by a specified function.

A 4th example
Ok, so what about this one?
Observable<Integer> timer = Observable.interval(3, TimeUnit.SECONDS) ;
timer, Observable.just("one"),

A 4th example
> one one one one one one ...

A 4th example
It seems that timer does not behave as range…
> one one one one one one ...

Cold and hot observables
And indeed it does not!

Range is cold observable = produces when observed

Timer is a hot observable = produces, observed or not

Timer is a hot observable = produces, observed or not
Be careful, a cold observable can become hot

An observable can have as many observers as we want
Thus, a cold observable observed by an observer will
generate values according to this observer
If another observer subscribes to it, it will see this observable
as a hot observable

Problem: what happens if we have many observers to
subscribe?

Problem: what happens if we have many observers to
subscribe?
Our application could miss the first values emitted by an
observable

We can use the cache method
cache(int capacity) { }

We can do better and use a ConnectableObservable
(which is an Observable)
// does not count as a subscription
ConnectableObservable<Long> publish = observable.publish();
// take the time to connect all the observers
// then call
publish.connect();

Subscribing to an Observable
About 10 different versions of doOnSomething
Each = the 3 callbacks: onNext, onError, onComplete
For instance, onNext() only acts with the onNext callback
doOnEach(Action1<T> onEach) { } // consumer

Map / filter, return an Observable
Emits only the elements that match the predicate
map(Func1<T, R> mapping) { }
cast(Class<R> clazz) { } // casts the elements
filter(Func1<T, Boolean> predicate) { }

Materialize: special type of mapping
Emit a Notification object that wraps the item, with metadata
Useful for logging
Does the reverse:
materialize() { } // Observable<Notification<T>>
dematerialize() { } // Observable<T>

Selecting ranges of elements
first() { }
last() { }
skip(int n) { }
limit(int n) { }
take(int n) { }

Special functions
Emits a true then complete on the onComplete
if the Observable emitted at least one item
exists(Func1<T, Boolean> predicate) { }

Special functions
Emits the nth item then complete on the onNext
if the Observable emitted at least n items
elementAt(int n) { }

Special functions
Emits nothing then complete on the onComplete
ignoreElement() { }

Special functions
Emits the first item on the onComplete
or emits an error on the second item emitted
single() { }

Special functions
Emits the matching item if it has been seen, on onComplete
or emits an error if not, on onComplete
single(Func1<T, Boolean> predicate) { }

Reductions & collections
Classical reductions
all(Func1<T, Boolean> predicate) { } // Observable<Boolean>
count() { } // Observable<Long>
forEach(Action1<T> consumer) { } // void

Accumulations
Reduce: returns the reduction of all the items, on onComplete
Scan: returns the reduction step by step, on onNext
reduce(Func2<T, T, T> accumulator) { } // Observable<T>
scan(Func2<T, T, T> accumulator) { } // Observable<T>

Collecting data in a mutable container
Example: adding the elements to a list
collect(Func0<R> stateFactory, // producer
Action2<R, T> collector) { } // BiConsumer
collect(ArrayList::new, // producer
ArrayList::add) { } // BiConsumer

Ready to use collectors for lists:
toList() { } // Observable<List<T>>
toSortedList() { } // Observable<List<T>>

Ready to use collectors for lists:
And for maps (toMap can lose items):
toList() { } // Observable<List<T>>
toSortedList() { } // Observable<List<T>>
toMultimap(Func1<T, K> keySelector, // Observable<
Func1<T, V> valueSelector) { } // Map<K, Collection<T>>
toMap(Func1<T, K> keySelector) { } // Observable<Map<K, T>>

A special kind of map:
The returned observable could hold a single map,
but it does not
groupBy(Func1<T, K> keySelector) { } // function

A special kind of map:
The returned observable could hold a single map,
but it does not
It holds GroupedObservable items, which holds its key
groupBy(Func1<T, K> keySelector) { } // function

Repeating & retrying
The repeat method repeats the same Observable
repeat() { } // Observable<T>
repeat(long times) { } // Observable<T>
repeatWhen(
Func1<Observable<Void>>, Observable<?>> notificationHandler
) { }

repeat: will repeat the same Observable again and again
On the returned Observable, one can invoke:
onComplete() or onError(), which will trigger the same call on
the source Observable
onNext(), that triggers the repetition

The retry method will reset the Observable on error
retry() { } // Observable<T>
retry(long times) { } // Observable<T>
retryWhen(
Func1<Observable<Throwable>>, Observable<?>> notificationHandler
) { }

Joining
Joins to Observable, based on the overlapping of durations
join(Observable<TRight> right,
Func1<T, Observable<TLeftDuration>> leftDurationSelector,
Func1<TRight, Observable<TRightDuration>> rightDurationSelector,
Func2<T, TRight, R> resultSelector) { }

Join
©RxJava
Left obs.
Right obs.
F(O1, O2)

GroupJoin
groupJoin(
Observable<T2> right,
Func1<? super T, ? extends Observable<D1>> leftDuration,
Func1<? super T2, ? extends Observable<D2>> rightDuration,
Func2<? super T, ? super Observable<T2>, ? extends R> resultSelector)
{ }

GroupJoin
©RxJava
Left obs.
Right obs.
F(O1, O2)

Dealing with the time
RxJava has a set of methods to deal with time
Let us go back on our cold / hot Observables
It is easy to imagine a hot Observable that emits an onNext
event each second, thus playing the role of a clock

Sampling
With hot observables, RxJava can synchronize on a clock
sample(long period, TimeUnit timeUnit) { }
©RxJava

Sampling
Or synchronize on a reference Observable!
sample(Observable<U> sampler) { } // samples on emission & completion
©RxJava
O1
sampler

RxJava and synchronization
A very powerful feature:
RxJava can synchronize on a clock (real-time)
And on another Observable, it can then take its own time scale

Measuring time
If we can measure time, then we can emit it
Will emit an the amount of time between the two last onNext
events
timeInterval() { } // Observable<TimeInterval<T>>

Measuring time
If we can measure time, then we can delay an emission
Will reemit the items, with a delay
This delay can be computed from the items themselves
delay(long delay, TimeUnit timeUnit) ; // Observable<T>
delay(Func1<T, Observable<U> func1) ; // Observable<T>

Measuring time
If we can measure time, then we can timeout
Will emit an error if no item is seen during this time
timeout(long n, TimeUnit timeUnit) { }

Fast hot observables
What happens if a hot Observable emits too many items?
What happens when an Observer cannot keep up the pace of
an Observable?

Fast hot observables
What happens if a hot Observable emits too many items?
What happens when an Observer cannot keep up the pace of
an Observable?
This leads to the notion of backpressure

Backpressure methods
Backpressure is a way to slow down the emission of elements
It can act on the observing side
Several strategies:
- Buffering items
- Skipping items (sampling is a way to implement this)

Buffering
Buffering records data in a buffer and emits it
buffer(int size) { } // Observable<List<T>>
buffer(long timeSpan, TimeUnit unit) { } // Observable<List<T>>
buffer(long timeSpan, TimeUnit unit, int maxSize) { }

Buffering
Buffering records data in a buffer (a list) and emits it
buffer(int size) { } // Observable<List<T>>
buffer(long timeSpan, TimeUnit unit) { } // Observable<List<T>>
buffer(long timeSpan, TimeUnit unit, int maxSize) { }
buffer(Observable<O> bufferOpenings, // Openings events
Func1<O, Observable<C>> bufferClosings) { } // Closings events

Windowing
Windowing acts as a buffer, but emits Observables instead of
lists of buffered items
window(int size) { } // Observable<Observable<T>>
window(long timeSpan, TimeUnit unit) { } // Observable<Observable<T>>
window(long timeSpan, TimeUnit unit, int maxSize) { }
window(Observable<O> bufferOpenings, // Openings events
Func1<O, Observable<C>> bufferClosings) { } // Closings events

Buffering & windowing
Windowing acts as a buffer, but emits Observables instead of
lists of buffered items

Throttling
Throttling is a sampler on the beginning or the end of a
window
throttleFirst(long windowDuration, TimeUnit unit) { } // Observable<T>
throttleLast(long windowDuration, TimeUnit unit) { }
throttleWithTimeout(long windowDuration, TimeUnit unit) { }

Debouncing
Debounce also limits the rate of the emission of the items, by
adding a delay before reemitting
debounce(long delay, TimeUnit timeUnit) ; // Observable<T>
debounce(Func1<T, Observable<U> func1) ; // Observable<T>

Wrap-up on RxJava
Complex API, many different concepts, many methods
Allows to process data in chosen threads, this is useful for IO,
computations, specialized threads (GUI threads)
Allows the synchronization of operations
on clocks
on application events
Works in pull mode, and also in push mode
backpressure

Getting the best of
both worlds?

Getting the best of both API?
What about connecting a J8 Stream to a Rx Observable?

If we have an Iterator, this is easy:
Iterator<T> iterator = ... ;
Observable<T> observable = Observable.from(() -> iterator) ;

If we have an Iterator, this is easy:
If we have a Spliterator, not much more complex:
Iterator<T> iterator = ... ;
Observable<T> observable = Observable.from(() -> iterator) ;
Spliterator<T> spliterator = ... ;
Observable<T> observable =
Observable.from(() -> Spliterators.iterator(spliterator)) ;

So if we have a Stream, we can easily build an Observable

What about the other way?

1) We can build an Iterator on an Observable
2) Then build a Spliterator on an Iterator

1) We can build an Iterator on an Observable
2) Then build a Spliterator on an Iterator
But we need to do that ourselves…

Iterating on an Observable
To implement an Iterator:
1) We need to implement next() and hasNext()
2) remove() is a default method in Java 8

The trick is that
an iterator pulls the date from a source
an observable pushes the data to callbacks

The trick is that
an iterator pulls the date from a source
an observable pushes the data to callbacks
So we need an adapter…

How has it been done in the JDK?
public static<T> Iterator<T>
iterator(Spliterator<? extends T> spliterator) {
class Adapter implements Iterator<T>, Consumer<T> {
// implementation
}
return new Adapter() ;
}

boolean valueReady = false ;
T nextElement;
public void accept(T t) {
valueReady = true ;
nextElement = t ;
}
public boolean hasNext() {
if (!valueReady)
spliterator.tryAdvance(this) ; // calls accept()
return valueReady ;
}
public T next() {
if (!valueReady && !hasNext())
throw new NoSuchElementException() ;
else {
valueReady = false ;
return nextElement ;
}
}
}

Let us adapt this pattern!
public static<T> Iterator<T>
of(Observable<? extends T> observable) {
class Adapter implements Iterator<T> {
// implementation
}
return new Adapter() ;
}

T nextElement;
public void accept(T t) { // needs to be called by the Observable
valueReady = true ;
nextElement = t ;
}
public boolean hasNext() {
return valueReady ;
}
public T next() {
if (!valueReady && !hasNext())
throw new NoSuchElementException() ;
else {
valueReady = false ;
return nextElement ;
}
}
}

The accept method
T nextElement;
observable.subscribe(
element -> nextElement = element, // onNext
exception -> valueReady = false, // onError
() -> valueReady = false // onComplete
) ;
}
}

The accept method
T nextElement;
element -> nextElement = element, // onNext
exception -> valueReady = false, // onError
() -> valueReady = false // onComplete
) ;
}
}
final…

We can wrap those value in Atomic variable
AtomicBoolean valueReady = new AtomicBoolean(false) ;
AtomicReference<T> nextElement = new AtomicReference() ;
element -> nextElement.set(element), // onNext
exception -> valueReady.set(false), // onError
() -> valueReady.set(false) // onComplete
) ;
}
}

Cant we do better?
interface Wrapper<E> {
E get() ;
}
Wrapper<Boolean> wb = () -> true ;

Cant we do better?
E get() ;
}
Action1<Boolean> onNext = b -> wb.set(b) ; // should return Wrapper<T>

Cant we do better?
E get() ;
public default Wrapper<E> set(E e) {
// should return a wrapper of e
}
}

Cant we do better?
E get() ;
public default Wrapper<E> set(E e) {
return () -> e ;
}
}

We can wrap those value in Atomic variable
Wrapper<Boolean> valueReady = () -> false ;
Wrapper<T> nextElement ;
element -> nextElement.set(element), // onNext
exception -> valueReady.set(false), // onError
() -> valueReady.set(false) // onComplete
) ;
}
}

So we can build an Iterator on an Observable
And with it, a Spliterator on an Observable
it will work on cold observables

Getting the best of both API
The cold observables can be implemeted with Java 8 Streams
The hot observables can be implemented by combining both
API

Comparisons:
Patterns &
Performances

Let us do some comparisons
Let us take one use case
Implemented in Rx and J8 Streams
See the different ways of writing the same processings
And compare the processing times using JMH

Shakespeare plays Scrabble
Published in Java Magazine
Presented in Java One 2014
Used during Virtual Technology Summit
https://community.oracle.com/docs/DOC-916777
https://github.com/JosePaumard/jdk8-lambda-tour

Basically, we have the set of the words used by Shakespeare
The official Scrabble player dictionnary
And the question is: how good at Scrabble Shakespeare
would have been?

1) Build the histogram of the letters of a word
2) Number of blanks needed for a letter in a word
3) Number of blanks needed to write a word
4) Predicate to check is a word can be written with 2 blanks
5) Bonus for a doubled letter
6) Final score of a word
7) Histogram of the scores
8) Best word

1) Histogram of the letters
Java 8 Stream API – Rx Java
// Histogram of the letters in a given word
Function<String, Map<Integer, Long>> histoOfLetters =
word -> word.chars().boxed()
.collect(
)
) ;

// Histogram of the letters in a given word
Func1<String, Observable<HashMap<Integer, LongWrapper>>> histoOfLetters =
word -> toIntegerObservable.call(word)
.collect(
() -> new HashMap<Integer, LongWrapper>(),
(HashMap<Integer, LongWrapper> map, Integer value) -> {
LongWrapper newValue = map.get(value) ;
if (newValue == null) {
newValue = () -> 0L ;
}
map.put(value, newValue.incAndSet()) ;
}) ;

interface LongWrapper {
long get() ;
public default LongWrapper set(long l) {
return () -> l ;
}
public default LongWrapper incAndSet() {
return () -> get() + 1L ;
}
public default LongWrapper add(LongWrapper other) {
return () -> get() + other.get() ;
}
}

2) # of blanks for a letter
// number of blanks for a given letter
ToLongFunction<Map.Entry<Integer, Long>> blank =
entry ->
Long.max(
0L,
entry.getValue() -
scrabbleAvailableLetters[entry.getKey() - 'a']
) ;

2) # of blanks for a letter
// number of blanks for a given letter
Func1<Entry<Integer, LongWrapper>, Observable<Long>> blank =
entry ->
Observable.just(
Long.max(
0L,
entry.getValue().get() -
scrabbleAvailableLetters[entry.getKey() - 'a']

3) # of blanks for a word
// number of blanks for a given word
Function<String, Long> nBlanks =
word -> histoOfLetters.apply(word)
.entrySet().stream()
.mapToLong(blank)
.sum();

3) # of blanks for a word
// number of blanks for a given word
Func1<String, Observable<Long>> nBlanks =
word -> histoOfLetters.call(word)
.flatMap(map -> Observable.from(() ->
map.entrySet().iterator()))
.flatMap(blank)
.reduce(Long::sum) ;

4) Predicate for 2 blanks
// can a word be written with 2 blanks?
Predicate<String> checkBlanks = word -> nBlanks.apply(word) <= 2 ;
// can a word be written with 2 blanks?
Func1<String, Observable<Boolean>> checkBlanks =
word -> nBlanks.call(word)
.flatMap(l -> Observable.just(l <= 2L)) ;

5) Bonus for a doubled letter – 1
// Placing the word on the board
// Building the streams of first and last letters
Function<String, IntStream> first3 =
word -> word.chars().limit(3);

// Placing the word on the board
// Building the streams of first and last letters
Func1<String, Observable<Integer>> first3 =
word ->
Observable.from(
IterableSpliterator.of(
word.chars().boxed().limit(3).spliterator()
)
) ;

// Bonus for double letter
ToIntFunction<String> bonusForDoubleLetter =
word -> Stream.of(first3.apply(word), last3.apply(word))
.flatMapToInt(Function.identity())
.map(scoreOfALetter)
.max()
.orElse(0) ;

// Bonus for double letter
Func1<String, Observable<Integer>> bonusForDoubleLetter =
word -> Observable.just(first3.call(word), last3.call(word))
.flatMap(observable -> observable)
.flatMap(scoreOfALetter)
.reduce(Integer::max) ;

// score of the word put on the board
Function<String, Integer> score3 =
word ->
2*(score2.apply(word)
+ bonusForDoubleLetter.applyAsInt(word))
+ (word.length() == 7 ? 50 : 0);

// score of the word put on the board
Func1<String, Observable<Integer>> score3 =
word ->
Observable.just(
score2.call(word), score2.call(word),
bonusForDoubleLetter.call(word),
bonusForDoubleLetter.call(word),
Observable.just(word.length() == 7 ? 50 : 0)
)
.flatMap(observable -> observable)
.reduce(Integer::sum) ;

Function<Function<String, Integer>, Map<Integer, List<String>>>
buildHistoOnScore =
score -> shakespeareWords.stream().parallel()
.filter(scrabbleWords::contains)
.filter(checkBlanks)
.collect(
score,
() -> new TreeMap<>(Comparator.reverseOrder()),
Collectors.toList()
)
) ;

Func1<Func1<String, Observable<Integer>>, Observable<TreeMap<Integer, List<String>>>>
buildHistoOnScore =
score -> Observable.from(() -> shakespeareWords.iterator())
.filter(scrabbleWords::contains)
.filter(word -> checkBlanks.call(word).toBlocking().first())
.collect(
() -> new TreeMap<Integer, List<String>>(Comparator.reverseOrder()),
(TreeMap<Integer, List<String>> map, String word) -> {
Integer key = score.call(word).toBlocking().first() ;
List<String> list = map.get(key) ;
if (list == null) {
list = new ArrayList<String>() ;
map.put(key, list) ;
}
list.add(word) ;
}) ;

8) Best word
// best key / value pairs
List<Entry<Integer, List<String>>> finalList =
buildHistoOnScore.apply(score3).entrySet()
.stream()
.limit(3)
.collect(Collectors.toList()) ;

8) Best word
List<Entry<Integer, List<String>>> finalList2 =
buildHistoOnScore.call(score3)
.flatMap(map -> Observable.from(() -> map.entrySet().iterator()))
.take(3)
.collect(
() -> new ArrayList<Entry<Integer, List<String>>>(),
(list, entry) -> { list.add(entry) ; }
)
.toBlocking()
.first() ;

8) Best word
CountDownLatch latch = new CountDownLatch(3) ;
buildHistoOnScore.call(score3)
.flatMap(map -> Observable.from(() -> map.entrySet().iterator()))
.take(3)
.collect(
() -> new ArrayList<Entry<Integer, List<String>>>(),
(list, entry) -> { list.add(entry) ; latch.countDown() ; }
)
.forEach(...) ;
latch.await() ;

Patterns comparison
Java 8 Stream API: clean, simple, factory methods for
Collectors
RxJava: flatMap calls, lack of factory methods
Java 8 can easily go parallel, which is a plus

Performances
Let us use JMH
Standard tool for measuring code performance on the JVM
Developed as an Open JDK tool
By Aleksey Shipilev http://shipilev.net/
https://twitter.com/shipilev
http://openjdk.java.net/projects/code-tools/jmh/
http://openjdk.java.net/projects/code-tools/jcstress/
https://www.parleys.com/tutorial/java-microbenchmark-harness-the-lesser-two-evils

Performances
Let us use JMH
Standard tool for measuring code performance on the JVM
Developed as an Open JDK tool
By Aleksey Shipilev http://shipilev.net/
https://twitter.com/shipilev
http://openjdk.java.net/projects/code-tools/jmh/
http://openjdk.java.net/projects/code-tools/jcstress/
https://www.parleys.com/tutorial/java-microbenchmark-harness-the-lesser-two-evils
Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev
Чувак из ТВ-службы пришёл отключать
антенну. Оказался масс-
спектрометристом, сцепился языком с
тестем: стоят, обсуждают девайсы.
#наукоград

JMH
Easy to setup
<dependency>
<groupId>org.openjdk.jmh</groupId>
<artifactId>jmh-core</artifactId>
<version>1.11.1</version>
</dependency>

JMH
Easy to use
@Benchmark
@BenchmarkMode(Mode.AverageTime)
@OutputTimeUnit(TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
@Warmup(iterations=5)
@Measurement(iterations=5)
@Fork(3)
public List<Entry<Integer, List<String>>> measureAverage() {
// implementation to test
}

JMH
Launching a benchmark
> mvn clean install
> java –jar target/benchmark.jar

JMH
3 ways of measuring performances
average execution time
number of executions per second
quantiles diagrams

Performances
Average execution time
Benchmark Mode Cnt Score Error Units
NonParallelStreams avgt 100 29,027 ± 0,279 ms/op

Performances
RxJava avgt 100 253,788 ± 1,421 ms/op

Performances
RxJava avgt 100 253,788 ± 1,421 ms/op
ParallelStreams avgt 100 7,624 ± 0,055 ms/op

Performances
RxJava spends a lot of time openning observables, due to the
all flatMap patterns
RxJava avgt 100 253,788 ± 1,421 ms/op
ParallelStreams avgt 100 7,624 ± 0,055 ms/op

Conclusion
Functional programming is in the mood
From the pure performance point of view, things are not that
simple
Java 8 Streams have adopted a partial functional approach,
which is probably a good trade off

Conclusion
RxJava: rich and complex API
many patterns are available in Java 8 Streams
can run in Java 7 applications
the « push » approach is very interesting
choose your use case carefully, to avoir performance hits
http://www.reactive-streams.org/
http://reactivex.io/
https://github.com/reactive-streams/

Conclusion
Java 8 Streams: part of the JDK
good performances, efficient memory footprint
parallelization
extensible through the Spliterator patterns

Conclusion
With more to come in Java 9
Java 9 is bringing a reactive framework as part of
java.util.concurrent
http://openjdk.java.net/jeps/266
http://gee.cs.oswego.edu/dl/jsr166/dist/docs/index.html (Class Flow)

Java 8 Stream API and RxJava Comparison

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