Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of streams in Java?

Streams in Java do not store elements; instead, they provide a pipeline for processing data. Unlike collections such as lists or arrays, which are data structures that store and manage elements, streams are designed to process sequences of elements on the fly. This distinction is important because it means that streams are not data structures but rather a means of operating on data.

Another key characteristic of streams is that they are immutable, meaning that once a stream is created, it cannot be modified. This immutability ensures that streams are safe to use in concurrent environments, as the operations performed on a stream do not alter the original data source. Streams can also be parallel, allowing for concurrent processing, which can lead to performance improvements on multi-core processors.

Streams can be infinite, which is another unique feature. For example, you can create a stream that generates an infinite sequence of numbers or a stream that reads lines from a file until the end of the file is reached. However, streams do not inherently store elements, making them a powerful tool for processing large or unbounded datasets in a functional style.