Introduction #

This tutorial explores the issues that can arise when using lambdas that touch Java SAM (single abstract method) or functional interfaces. To see this in action, check out the code in this GitHub repo

  1. The Java code is in the Java module in the package: java_interop_sam_gotchas.
  2. The Kotlin code is in the package: java_interop_sam_gotchas_kt.

Note: This Gradle project supports both Kotlin and Java. In order for this IDEA project to use both Kotlin and Java, I had to create a new Gradle project in IDEA, and select both Kotlin and Java support for the same project, and then it worked.

Non-capturing lambdas and their (implementation) instances #

When an expression does not capture any variables it’s called a non-capturing lambda.

Here’s an made up functional interface called ImmediateFuture that implements the Java Future interface (similar to a JavaScript promise).

/**
 * A simplification of the {@link Future} interface for cases in which the result is immediately available.
 * @param <V> the result type returned by this Future's {@link #get()} method
 */
@FunctionalInterface
public interface ImmediateFuture<V> extends Future<V> {
	@Override
	default boolean cancel(boolean mayInterruptIfRunning) {
		return false;
	}
	@Override
	default boolean isCancelled() {
		return false;
	}
	@Override
	default boolean isDone() {
		return true;
	}
	@Override
	default V get(long timeout, TimeUnit unit)
			throws InterruptedException,
			ExecutionException,
			TimeoutException {
		return get();
	}
}

Here’s an example of a non-capturing lambda using this interface (using Java labmdas). Note that it does not capture any variables any simply returns the same value 0 always.

public static Future<Integer> createWithDefaultResult() {
	ImmediateFuture<Integer> immediateFuture = () -> 0;
	return immediateFuture;
}

So the following code would print 1 and not 2 as you might expect:

public static void main(String[] args) {
	Set<Future<?>> futures = new HashSet<>();
	futures.add(FutureFactory.createWithDefaultResult());
	futures.add(FutureFactory.createWithDefaultResult());
	System.out.println(futures.size());
}

The JVM reuses the implementation of these non-capturing lambdas, since it thinks that it is safe to do so. Please read more on this in the references (about how the JVM implements lambdas).

Capturing lambdas #

Contrast this with a lambda expression which captures some variables. A straight forward evaluation of such an expression is to create a class which has the captured variables as fields. Each single evaluation must then create a new instance which stores the captured variables in its fields. These instances are obviously not generally equal. Here’s an example that returns a variable result which it “captures”.

public static Future<Integer> createWithResult(Integer result) {
	ImmediateFuture<Integer> immediateFuture = () -> result;
	return immediateFuture;
}

Problems w/ using non-capturing lambdas #

Non-capturing lambda instance reuse can cause issues when hooking up w/ these SAM / functional interfaces / lambdas from Kotlin code (or Java code).

Here’s an example of this issue using the Disposer interface in IntelliJ Platform (written in Java), in Kotlin this time.

Disposer.register(parentDisposable, Disposable {
    synchronized(APPLICATION_LOCK) {
        if (--ourProjectCount <= 0) {
            disposeApplicationEnvironment()
            }
        }
    }
})

The intent behind this code is to register a Disposable with the IntelliJ platform so that it can be cleaned up. Each disposable registered needs to be a unique object, since that’s how the disposer mechanism works. However, due to the fact that this implementation is simply reused this won’t work!

Solution - use anonymous classes to implement the SAM / functional interface #

The solution is to simply replace the non-capturing lambda w/ a different expression (anonymous class implementing the functional interface / SAM). The anonymous inner class guarantees the creation of new instances, while the non-capturing lambda does not.

Here’s the resolution of the issue by turning this lambda into an anonymous class (implementing Disposable interface):

Disposer.register(parentDisposable, object : Disposable {
    override fun dispose() {
        synchronized(APPLICATION_LOCK) {
            if (--ourProjectCount <= 0) {
                disposeApplicationEnvironment()
            }
        }
    }
})

Note the different semantics of the following:

  • an anonymous class (object: Disposable ...) - guarantees the creation of new instances
  • a (non-capturing) lambda expression (Disposable {...}) - does not guarantee the creation of new instances

Beware IDE automatic conversions #

This is especially unsettling because many IDEs allow the automatic conversion from anonymous interface implementations to lambda expressions and vice versa. With the subtle differences between the two this seemingly purely syntactic conversion can introduce subtle behavior changes.

References #

#kt
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