In Java we can use the iterate method of the Stream class to create an unbounded stream based on function invocations. We pass to the iterate method an initial value and a function that can be applied to the value. The first element in the unbounded stream is the initial value, the next element is the result of the function invocation with as argument the value from the previous element and this continues for each new element. Suppose we have a function expressed as lambda expression i → i + 2. When we use this lambda expression with the iterate method and a initial value of 1 we get a stream of 1, 1 → 1 + 2, 3 → 3 + 2, …​.

As we get an unbounded stream we must for example use limit to get the values we want from the stream. But we can also use an extra argument for the iterate method that is a Predicate definition. The iterate method will provide elements as long as the result of the Predicate is true. This way we the result of the iterate method is a bounded stream.

In Java we can use the generate method of the Stream class to create an infinite stream of values. The values are coming from a Supplier instance we pass as argument to the generate method. The Supplier instance usually will be a lambda expression. To give back a fixed value we simply implement a Supplier that returns the value. We can also have different values when we use a method that returns a different value on each invocation, for example the randomUUID method of the UUID class. When we use such a method we can create the Supplier as method reference: UUID::randomUUID.

The generate method returns an unbounded stream. We must use methods like limit and takeWhile to get a bounded stream again. We must use findFirst or findAny to terminate the unbounded stream and get a value.

If we want to transform items in a collection we can use the map function. If we also want to use the index of the element in the collection in the transformation we must use the map-indexed function. We must provide a function with 2 arguments, where the first argument is the index of the element in the collection and the second argument is the element in the collection.

In the following examples we use the map-indexed function:

In Clojure we can use the repeat function to get an infinite sequence of a given value. We can pass a length argument to get a fixed size sequence of the value. Clojure also provides the repeatedly function that takes as argument a function without arguments. A infinite sequence of invocations of the function is returned. Just like with the repeat function we can pass a length argument so the returned sequence has a fixed size.

We use the repeat and repeatedly function in the following example:

The Clojure function cycle take a collections as argument and creates a lazy sequence by repeating the items in the collection. So if we pass a collection with the characters \a, \b and \c we get a lazy sequence of (\a \b \c \a \b \c …​).

Written with Clojure 1.10.1.

The Clojure function zipmap create a map by interleaving a collection of keys with a collection of values. The first element of the keys collection is the map entry keyword and the first element of the values collection is than the map entry value, and so on for the other elements in the keys and values collections.

In the following example code we use zipmap using different examples of keys and values collections:

How do you know when having a tech lead may be taking your organisation in the wrong direction? Let’s take a look at some of the archetypical tech leads, their pitfalls and ways to go about and deal with them.

In Clojure we can use the comp function to create a new function based on multiple other functions. We create a new function by composing other functions. We can invoke the function that is returned from the comp function with input arguments. These arguments are applied to the right most function that was used with comp. Then the output of that function is the input for the next function.

In the following example code we see several usages of the comp function. Also we see how the ordening of the functions can change the output:

In Clojure we can use the range function to create a lazy sequence of numbers. We can optionally specify a start value, end value and define the steps between the numbers. If we use the end value argument that value is exclusive for the returned values in the lazy sequence.

In the following example we invoke the range function with different arguments:

At the time of writing the coronavirus is raging the earth. Very soon after the outbreak, visualizations of both the virus and the effect of the disease started to appear everywhere. As I partially graduated in the subject of data visualization, I have always been interested in those graphs. Lately, I followed an introduction course to visualize data with D3.js. After I completed this course, I wanted to draw some meaningful graphics with this library. So follow along when I explain a little bit about D3 and then draw a simplified version of the coronavirus molecule.