Is it OK to return null?
Returning null Creates More Work
An ideal function, like an assistant cook, will encapsulate work and produce something useful. A function that returns a null reference achieves neither goal. Returning null is like throwing a time bomb into the software. Other code must a guard against null with if and else statements.
How do you return a null in Java?
In Java, a null value can be assigned to an object reference of any type to indicate that it points to nothing. The compiler assigns null to any uninitialized static and instance members of reference type. In the absence of a constructor, the getArticles() and getName() methods will return a null reference.
Is returning null bad Java?
Returning null is often a violation of the fail fast programming principle. The null can appear due to some issue in the application. The issue can even go to production if the developer has not implemented proper exception handling, which can help quickly detect the issue.
Can you return a null string?
null is the best thing to return if and only if the following following conditions apply: the null result is expected in normal operation. It could be expected that you may not be able to find a person in some reasonable circumstances, so findPerson() returning null is fine.
Should I return null or throw exception?
Only throw an exception if it is truly an error. If it is expected behavior for the object to not exist, return the null. Otherwise it is a matter of preference. As a general rule, if the method should always return an object, then go with the exception.
Should I return null or undefined?
Undefined typically refers to something which has not yet been assigned a value (yet). Null refers to something which definitively has no value. In that case, I would recommend returning a null. Note that a function with no specified return value implicitly returns undefined.
IS NOT null check Java?
“java check if not null” Code Answer’s
- Objects. isNull(obj) //returns true if the object is null.
- Objects. nonNull(obj) //returns true if object is not-null.
- if(Objects. nonNull(foo) && foo. something()) // Uses short-circuit as well. No Null-pointer Exceptions are thrown.
Why am I getting null in Java?
In Java, a special null value can be assigned to an object reference. NullPointerException is thrown when an application attempts to use an object reference that has the null value. These include: Calling an instance method on the object referred by a null reference.
What is main null in Java?
In Java, null is a reserved word (keyword) for literal values. It seems like a keyword, but actually, it is a literal similar to true and false. The reserved word null is case sensitive and we cannot write null as Null or NULL, the compiler will not recognize them and give an error.
Should I use null or empty string?
only allow nulls if you’ll take null to mean something different than an empty string. for example if you have a password field, a null value could indicate that a new user has not created his password yet while an empty varchar could indicate a blank password.
Can a string be null Java?
The Java programming language distinguishes between null and empty strings. An empty string is a string instance of zero length, whereas a null string has no value at all. … It is a character sequence of zero characters. A null string is represented by null .
What does return null mean in Java?
In Java programming, null can be assigned to any variable of a reference type (that is, a non-primitive type) to indicate that the variable does not refer to any object or array. Object . … That means that null cannot be used in place of a reference to a Java object like an instance of java. lang.
Should API return null or empty string?
If you usually return an array, and empty array is probably a good choice. But if you usually return an object, then, IMHO, null is acceptable and may be better than an empty object. If you usually return just a string or a number, then null would probably be the preferred choice.
What type is null Java?
In Java(tm), “null” is not a keyword, but a special literal of the null type. It can be cast to any reference type, but not to any primitive type such as int or boolean. The null literal doesn’t necessarily have value zero. And it is impossible to cast to the null type or declare a variable of this type.