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Collections beginner

Stream toList() shorthand

Collect a stream to an unmodifiable list without Collectors.

Code Comparison
✕ Java 8 
List<String> names = people.stream()
    .map(Person::name)
    .collect(Collectors.toList());
✓ Java 16+ 
List<String> names = people.stream()
    .map(Person::name)
    .toList();
Why the modern way wins
📏

Shorter

.toList() vs .collect(Collectors.toList()).

🔒

Immutable result

Returns an unmodifiable list by default.

📖

Reads naturally

stream → map → toList flows like English.

Old Approach
Collectors.toList()
Modern Approach
.toList()
Since JDK
16
Difficulty
beginner
JDK Support
Stream toList() shorthand
Available

Widely available since JDK 16 (March 2021)

How it works

Stream.toList() is a terminal operation that returns an unmodifiable list. It's shorter than .collect(Collectors.toList()) and the result is immutable by default.

Related patterns

Collections intermediate

Collectors.teeing()

Java 8
long count = items.stream().count();
double sum = items.stream()
    .mapToDouble(Item::price)
    .sum();
var result = new Stats(count, sum);
Java 12+
var result = items.stream().collect(
    Collectors.teeing(
        Collectors.counting(),
        Collectors.summingDouble(Item::price),
        Stats::new
    )
);
Hover to see modern ➜
JDK 12+ →
Collections beginner

Immutable list creation

Java 8
List<String> list =
    Collections.unmodifiableList(
        new ArrayList<>(
            Arrays.asList("a", "b", "c")
        )
    );
Java 9+
List<String> list =
    List.of("a", "b", "c");
Hover to see modern ➜
JDK 9+ →
Collections beginner

Immutable map creation

Java 8
Map<String, Integer> map = new HashMap<>();
map.put("a", 1);
map.put("b", 2);
map.put("c", 3);
map = Collections.unmodifiableMap(map);
Java 9+
Map<String, Integer> map =
    Map.of("a", 1, "b", 2, "c", 3);
Hover to see modern ➜
JDK 9+ →
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