Lambda expressions are a fairly simple change to Java, and the first part of the book shows you how to use them properly. Later chapters show you how lambda functions help you improve performance with parallelism, write simpler concurrent code, and model your domain more accurately, including building better DSLs.
Richard is an empirical technologist and solver of deep-dive technical problems. He has professionally worked on static analysis problems, verifying part of a compiler and developing advanced automated bug detection technology. More recently his career has been focussed on data analytics for high performance computing. He is a leader in the London Java Community, sits on their JCP Committee and organises the Adopt-a-JSR programs for Lambdas and Date and Time in Java 8. Richard is also a known conference speaker, having talked at JavaOne, DevoxxUK and JAX London. He obtained a PhD in Computer Science from The University of Warwick where his research focussed on compiler theory.