Functional Programming with Java - Composition

Functional composition refers to a technique where multiple functions are combined together to a single function. We can combine lambda expression together. Java provides inbuilt support using Predicate and Function classes. Following example shows how to combine two functions using predicate approach.

import java.util.function.Predicate;
public class FunctionTester {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      Predicate<String> hasName = text -> text.contains("name");
      Predicate<String> hasPassword = text -> text.contains("password");
      Predicate<String> hasBothNameAndPassword = hasName.and(hasPassword);
      String queryString = "name=test;password=test";
      System.out.println(hasBothNameAndPassword.test(queryString));
   }
}

Output

true

Predicate provides and() and or() method to combine functions. Whereas Function provides compose and andThen methods to combine functions. Following example shows how to combine two functions using Function approach.

import java.util.function.Function;
public class FunctionTester {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      Function<Integer, Integer> multiply = t -> t *3;
      Function<Integer, Integer> add = t -> t  + 3;
      Function<Integer, Integer> FirstMultiplyThenAdd = multiply.compose(add);
      Function<Integer, Integer> FirstAddThenMultiply = multiply.andThen(add);
      System.out.println(FirstMultiplyThenAdd.apply(3));
      System.out.println(FirstAddThenMultiply.apply(3));
   }
}

Output

18
12