What is the purpose of the limit() method in streams?

The limit(long maxSize) method in Java Stream API is designed to create a new stream containing elements from the original stream, up to a maximum of maxSize. It is an intermediate operation that discards remaining elements after the specified number has been processed.

Main effects:

• Size limitation: Applies a limit to the maximum number of elements in the resulting stream.
• Laziness: Element computation occurs only when they are actually requested by a terminal operation, up to the specified limit.
• Truncation capability: If the original stream contains more elements than specified in maxSize, the stream will be truncated to maxSize elements. If fewer, all available elements are used.

Example usage:

List<String> names = Arrays.asList("Alice", "Bob", "Charlie", "David", "Eve");

List<String> firstTwoNames = names.stream()
                                  .limit(2) // Limit the stream to the first two elements
                                  .collect(Collectors.toList()); // Collect into a list

// firstTwoNames will contain ["Alice", "Bob"]