Stream

https://nodejs.dev/learn/nodejs-streams (opens in a new tab)

General

An abstract phrase for something with a source and destination.

Sequence of elements made available over time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stream_(computing) (opens in a new tab)

E.g. read/write files, network communication, or any kind of end to end information exchange.

NodeJS

https://nodejs.dev/learn/nodejs-streams (opens in a new tab)

Why??

• Memory efficiency: load data piece by piece instead of all at once into memory
• Time efficiency: load and process data in the meantime

Java

Others

• Stream provides more declarative or expressiveness
• Stream has close affinity to functions
• Stream encourages immutability etc