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Stream API Refactoring Tricks for Legacy Code
4 min readApr 27, 2025
Java’s Stream API introduced in Java 8 has revolutionized how we process data in collections. But many Java codebases still contain imperative-style loops, verbose if conditions, and manual data transformations that can be simplified using Streams.
In this article, we’ll explore practical refactoring tricks using Java Streams — with before-and-after examples drawn from real-world legacy patterns.
🧱 Why Refactor Legacy Code to Use Streams?
- ✅ Improved readability and maintainability
- ✅ Eliminates boilerplate code
- ✅ Encourages functional, declarative programming
- ✅ Better support for parallel processing
Sample Domain Model
We’ll use this model throughout the article:
record Employee(String name, String department, double salary) {}
