[seanmcdirmid]

Java has had anonymous inner classes for a very long time. They are a bit verbose, but did the job as a first-class functiona alternative very well back in the day, to the point that I actually miss them in C# that did have first class functions (b/c anonymous inner classes were useful beyond just first class functions!).

The only reason it has take Java so long to add lambdas is that anonymous inner classes did the job well enough for many years; the pressure to add them just wasn't strong enough (a victim of its own success, so to say).