This is a really nice write up!<p>Java 8 is such a huge improvement over previous versions. One thing it still lacks is a better literal format for defining maps, etc.<p>I just self published a book that uses Java 8 (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;leanpub.com&#x2F;powerjava" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;leanpub.com&#x2F;powerjava</a> if you will pardon a plug) and to be honest I got some pushback from a few people who like my books as to why I didn&#x27;t use Clojure, Haskell, etc. To be honest I do prefer Clojure and Haskell, but the Java ecosystem is so huge, with so many good libraries that sometimes it is the more practical language to use.