Master Java Stream Tricks: Null Handling, Infinite Streams & Collectors

Spring Boot 3 practical case collection includes over 100 examples, and this article highlights several modern Java Stream features.

1. Stream.ofNullable – Safe handling of null values

Java 9 introduced Stream.ofNullable() which automatically skips null elements, avoiding NullPointerException. Example:

public static void test1() {
    List<String> names = Arrays.asList("Spring", null, "Pack", "XG", null);
    List<String> filteredNames = names.stream()
        .flatMap(Stream::ofNullable) // Bye-bye, nulls!
        .collect(Collectors.toList());
    System.out.println(filteredNames); // [Spring, Pack, XG]
}

2. Stream.iterate – Creating infinite streams

Use Stream.iterate() to generate an unbounded sequence, e.g., an endless list of even numbers.

public static void test2() {
    Stream.iterate(2, n -> n + 2)
        .limit(5)
        .forEach(System.out::println); // 2, 4, 6, 8, 10
}

3. Collectors.collectingAndThen – Post‑processing results

Combine collection with a finishing function, such as rounding the average salary of employees.

public record Employee(String name, Double salary) {}

public static void test3() {
    List<Employee> employees = List.of(
        new Employee("Spring", 6879.6),
        new Employee("Java", 16890.0),
        new Employee("XG", 8983.5),
        new Employee("Pack", 12983.8)
    );
    long averageSalary = employees.stream()
        .collect(Collectors.collectingAndThen(
            Collectors.averagingDouble(Employee::salary),
            Math::round));
    System.err.println("avg: " + averageSalary); // avg: 11434
}

4. takeWhile and dropWhile – Precise stream slicing

These methods split a stream based on a predicate.

public static void test4() {
    List<Integer> numbers = List.of(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8);
    List<Integer> taken = numbers.stream()
        .takeWhile(n -> n < 5)
        .collect(Collectors.toList());
    System.err.println(taken); // [1, 2, 3, 4]

    List<Integer> dropped = numbers.stream()
        .dropWhile(n -> n < 5)
        .collect(Collectors.toList());
    System.err.println(dropped); // [5, 6, 7, 8]
}

5. Collectors.teeing – Simultaneous collectors

Java 12’s Collectors.teeing() runs two collectors in parallel and merges their results.

public static void test5() {
    List<Integer> numbers = List.of(45,5,3,33,22,6,678,23);
    Map<String, Optional<Integer>> minMax = numbers.stream()
        .collect(Collectors.teeing(
            Collectors.maxBy(Integer::compareTo),
            Collectors.minBy(Integer::compareTo),
            (max, min) -> Map.of("Max", max, "Min", min)));
    System.err.println(minMax); // {Max=Optional[678], Min=Optional[3]}
}

6. LongSummaryStatistics – Comprehensive statistics

The summarizingLong collector provides count, sum, min, average, and max in one step.

public static void test6() {
    List<Integer> numbers = List.of(45,5,3,33,22,6,678,23);
    LongSummaryStatistics stats = numbers.stream()
        .collect(Collectors.summarizingLong(Long::valueOf));
    System.err.println(stats);
    // LongSummaryStatistics{count=8, sum=815, min=3, average=101.875, max=678}
}

These examples demonstrate how modern Java Stream APIs can simplify data processing, improve readability, and reduce boilerplate code.