New features in Java 1.8

•     Lambda expressions

    Remove the Permanent Generation
    Small VM
    Parallel Array Sorting
    Bulk Data Operations for Collections
    Define a standard API for Base64 encoding and decoding
    New Date & Time API
    Provide stronger Password-Based-Encryption (PBE) algorithm implementations in the SunJCE provider

   
    http://ttux.net/post/java-8-new-features-release-performance-code/