Introduction to Akka Streams

In this section, we will introduce you to data streaming, the Akka Streams API, its features and benefits and more concepts.

What is a stream?

A stream is a sequence of things that is flowing continuously from a source to a destination. Stream elements are processed sequentially. It is also known as a data stream, data streaming, or streaming data.

Here, things can refer to anything, for instance, data elements, components, entities, objects, bytes, elements, files, and so on. Take a look at the following diagram:

In the real world, a stream will form only when at least one source and at least one destination are connected and have data flowing between them. Remember these three terminologies...