Java 8 Language Features Support Update

Posted by James Lau, Product Manager



Yesterday, we released Android Studio
2.4 Preview 6. Java 8 language features are now supported by the Android
build system in the javac/dx compilation path. Android Studio's Gradle plugin
now desugars Java 8 class files to Java 7-compatible class files, so you can use
lambdas,
method references and other features of Java 8.




For those of you who tried the Jack compiler, we now support the same set of
Java 8 language features but with faster build speed. You can use Java 8
language features together with tools that rely on bytecode, including Instant
Run. Using libraries written with Java 8 is also supported.




We first added Java 8 desugaring in Android Studio 2.4 Preview 4. Preview 6
includes important bug fixes related to Java 8 language features support. Many
of these fixes were made in response to bug reports you filed. We really
appreciate your help in improving Android development tools for the community!




It's easy to try using Java 8 language features in your Android project. Just
download Android Studio
2.4 Preview 6, and update your project's target and source compatibility to
Java version 1.8. You can find more information in our preview
documentation.




Happy lambda'ing!