Option and Optional are indeed monads, and Java's Optional.flatMap() function is the monadic /bind/ function. But not all monads are Optional -- List is also a

Option and Optional are indeed monads, and Java's Optional.flatMap() function is the monadic /bind/ function. But not all monads are Optional -- List is also a monad, and they go on to get a lot more complex than that. I found that reading about Haskell really helpful for my Java development, and that looking at really simple monads like Optional, and using them in my code, was really helpful for understanding how more complicated monads work. Jumping straight into Haskell's IO monad is really unhelpful.