Lambda can only be used with functional interface?

Valen picture Valen · May 15, 2014 · Viewed 48.6k times · Source

I did this:

public class LambdaConflict
{
    public static void main(String args[]){
        //*
        System.out.println(LambdaConflict.get(
            (str) -> "Hello World!! By ME?"
        ));
        /*/
        System.out.println(LambdaConflict.get(new Intf<String> (){
            @Override public String get1(String str){
                return "Hello World!! By get1 " + str;
            }
        }));
        /*****/
    }

    public static String get(Intf<String> i, boolean b){
        return i.get1("from 1");
    }
}

interface Intf<T>
{
    public T get1(T arg1);

    public T get2(T arg1);
}

and get this exception:

incompatible types: Intf is not a functional interface multiple non-overriding abstract methods found in interface Intf Note: Some messages have been simplified; recompile with -Xdiags:verbose to get full output 1 error

Is there any condition that I can't use lambda to replace anonymous class?

Answer

Thomas Uhrig picture Thomas Uhrig · May 15, 2014

No. There is no way to "overcome" this. A functional interface must have only one abstract method. Your interface has two:

interface Intf<T> {
    public T get1(T arg1);
    public T get2(T arg1);
}

Note: You don't need to annotate your interface as mentioned in comments. But you can use the @FunctionalInterface annotation to get compile time errors if your interface is not a valid functional interface. So it brings you a little bit more security in your code.

For more see e.g. http://java.dzone.com/articles/introduction-functional-1