While writing code in imperative programming languages, programmers take advantage of Reactive Extensions (ReactiveX) to compose event-based and asynchronous programs more efficiently. ReactiveX further make it easier for developers to operate on sequence of synchronous and asynchronous data. Many Java developers and Android programmers ask us what is RxJava. RxJava is an open source implementation of ReactiveX library for java virtual machine (JVM).
2. While writing code in imperative programming languages, programmers take
advantage of Reactive Extensions (ReactiveX) to compose event-based and
asynchronous programs more efficiently. ReactiveX further make it easier for
developers to operate on sequence of synchronous and asynchronous data.
Many Java developers and Android programmers ask us what is RxJava. RxJava is an
open source implementation of ReactiveX library for java virtual machine (JVM).
RxJava is a lightweight implementation, still it supports several widely used JVM-based
programming languages – Java, Kotlin, Scala, Groovy, JRuby and Clojure. Interested
readers can read more about one of my previous blogs Java vs Scala: which is better.
At present, RxJava finds extensive use by Android app developers to simplify a variety
of concurrent and asynchronous tasks. As it supports both Java and Kotlin, mobile app
developers can use RxJava regardless of their choice of official programming language
for Android. They can even extend RxJava by integrating it with a number of external
libraries. RxJava 2.x further simplifies Android app development by supporting several
new static, instance, abstract, and concrete methods.
3. What is RxJava? Understanding Important Aspects of RxJava
A Lightweight Implementation of ReactiveX
As noted earlier, RxJava is an open source implementation of ReactiveX
library for JVM. By design, RxJava is a simple and lightweight
implementation. Developers implement as a single JAR file. But it still
enables programmers to orchestrate multiple actions simultaneously and
smoothly without using call backs or global state management. The
developers can use RxJava to orchestrate a variety of actions triggered due
to specific events in the system efficiently.
4. Supports Several JVM-Based Programming Languages
In addition to being designed as a lightweight API, RxJava
supports several widely used JVM-based programming
languages. It even supports the two official programming
languages for Android app development – Java and Kotlin. At
present,Android app developers use RxJava widely to perform
various asynchronous and concurrent tasks more efficiently.
The Android app developers can further use RxJava to
accelerate development of both simple and complex mobile
apps.
5. Provides Two Major Classes
RxJava simplifies current and asynchronous task execution by providing two major
classes – Observable and Subscriber. The Observable class emits the stream of events or
data which are processed or handled by the Subscriber class. The Observable emits
multiple items consistently. A single Observable can further mange these emitted items
efficiently through multiple Subscribers. Each time the observable emits an item, RxJava
sends it to Subscriber.onNext method for handling. After emitting an item, Observable
calls the Subscriber.onComplete method. In case there is an error, Observable will call
the Subscriber.onError method.
6. Implements Stream Abstracts through Three Core Constructs
RxJava requires Android app developers to treat everything – click event,
push notification, location update – as stream. It even implements the
stream abstractions through three important components – observable,
observer and operator. The observable emits various items as streams. The
items emitted by observables are consumed by the observer. At the same
time, operators filter, modify, or alter the items emitted by observables
before they are consumed by the observer. RxJava even allows
programmers to apply a number of commonly used functional
programming operators to the observable stream.