In fairness, you are omitting the list instantiation, and collecting only a count rather than an assignment of results. Apples to apples, your alternative algo

In fairness, you are omitting the list instantiation, and collecting only a count rather than an assignment of results. Apples to apples, your alternative algorithm would be implemented like this: words.stream().filter(w -> !w.isEmpty()).count() Which is hardly any longer, and arguably more readable intent with the English word "filter".