Item 21: Design interfaces for posterity

Prior to Java 8, it was impossible to add methods to interfaces without breaking existing implementations. If you added a new method to an interface, existing implementations would, in general, lack the method, resulting in a compile-time error. In Java 8, the default methodconstruct was added [JLS 9.4], with the intent of allowing the addition of methods to existing interfaces. But adding new methods to existing interfaces is fraught with risk.

// Default method added to the Collection interface in Java 8
default boolean removeIf(Predicate<? super E> filter) {
    Objects.requireNonNull(filter);
    boolean result = false;
    for (Iterator<E> it = iterator(); it.hasNext(); ) {
        if (filter.test(it.next())) {
            it.remove();
            result = true;
        }
    }
    return result;
}


In the presence of default methods, existing implementations of an interface may compile without error or warning but fail at runtime. While not terribly common, this problem is not an isolated incident either. A handful of the methods added to the collections interfaces in Java 8 are known to be susceptible, and a handful of existing implementations are known to be affected.
While it may be possible to correct some interface flaws after an interface is released, you cannot count on it