Comments on: Null-safe Type in Java 7: New way to handle NullPointerException

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:28:19 +0000

Null safe checks are useful in large legacy codebase. I personally prefer to fail fast with liberal use of preconditions to fail early in a method call however different processing needs have different requirements.

This syntax is horrible and I cant thing of something better.

I do think of C++ and the -> Operator

public String getPostcode(Person person) {
return person->getAddress()->getPostcode();
}

Or potentially use the .. operator (my own concoction)

public String getPostcode(Person person) {
return person..getAddress()..getPostcode();
}

Both seem horrible because of c++ nostalga and general eyesore.

By: Kon Soulianidis

Kon Soulianidis — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:37:38 +0000

Yes, it was rejected. Whilst it makes sense in Groovy, when actually tried out with real Java codebases as part of project coin testing, it didnt work so well compared to the Groovy implementation. Who knows, if you want it, contribute to the project.

Javaposse interview with Project Coin is a great resource about the how and why http://javaposse.com/index.php?post_id=529403

I would strongly recommend Viral puts an Edit at the top of the article per Stephan and Stefans comments.

By: Pascal

Pascal — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:12:54 +0000

I do not like this. This makes it very difficult to read there is an null check and people will most likely over use it. There are times when it’s valid to do a null check and there are times it’s simply hiding a bug elsewhere. Also, during debugging, it would make it difficult to know which value is null.

By: Stephen Colebourne

Stephen Colebourne — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:53:23 +0000

I believe that the opinion is that it would promote the use of null, which is ‘a bad thing’. Personally, I’m more pragmatic and think that avoiding loads of NPEs justifies the change. I know I would have used it all the time. If you don’t like the decision, write to the Coin mailing list.

By: Luciano Fiandesio

Luciano Fiandesio — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 07:44:03 +0000

This is the way Freemarker handles Null. In Freemarker you can go like:
( object.getThis().getThat() )?

By: Raminder

Raminder — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:25:23 +0000

Wow !! Its looks great. Certainly helpful.
@ Stephen Colebourne: Can you provide more details for rejection?

By: Stefan Zobel

Stefan Zobel — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:13:45 +0000

See

http://blogs.sun.com/darcy/entry/project_coin_final_five

By: Stephen Colebourne

Stephen Colebourne — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:51:39 +0000

This was rejected by Project Coin.