OptionalInt vs Optional

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Java 8 introduced a whole lot dedicated to primitives. The reason is most likely that boxing primitives can create a lot of waste “boxes”.

For example this

OptionalInt optionalFirst = IntStream
    .range(0, 100)
    .filter(i -> i % 23 > 7)
    .findFirst();

Here, an Optional<Integer> as result would be inconsistent. Also methods like ifPresent(IntConsumer consumer) then allow to stay withing the IntStream world. Optional<Integer> would force you to convert (which you can do easily if you want)

There is no need for special support for char or short or byte because all of them can be represented as int. The missing one is boolean but there is not much you can do in a stream with them since there are only 2 values.

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