What is the purpose of LongBinaryOperator functional interface

The LongBinaryOperator functional interface in Java is part of the java.util.function package and is designed to represent an operation that takes two long parameters and produces a result of type long. It is often used in scenarios where you need to perform a binary operation on two long values and get a long result. This interface is part of the functional programming enhancements introduced in Java 8 to support lambda expressions.

The LongBinaryOperator interface has a single abstract method named applyAsLong(long left, long right), which defines the binary operation to be performed with the given long operands. It is a functional interface, meaning it can be used as the assignment target for a lambda expression or a method reference.

Here's the signature of the LongBinaryOperator interface:

        
            @FunctionalInterface
            public interface LongBinaryOperator {
                long applyAsLong(long left, long right);
                
                // Other default and static methods (if any)...
            }            
        
    

Here's a simple example using LongBinaryOperator with a lambda expression:

        
            import java.util.function.LongBinaryOperator;

            public class LongBinaryOperatorExample {
                public static void main(String[] args) {
                    // Using a LongBinaryOperator to find the maximum of two long values
                    LongBinaryOperator maxOperator = (left, right) -> left >= right ? left : right;
            
                    // Applying the operator
                    long result = maxOperator.applyAsLong(10L, 7L);
                    System.out.println("Maximum value: " + result); // Prints: Maximum value: 10
                }
            }            
        
    

In this example, the LongBinaryOperator is used to define a binary operation (finding the maximum of two long values) and then applied to specific long operands. This functional interface is commonly used in conjunction with the reduce operation in streams or any situation where you need to perform binary operations on long values

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