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Replace the nullable annotations with guava's Optional class. #9
Description
What's the point of Guava's Optional class?
Probably the single biggest disadvantage of null is that it's not obvious what it should mean in any given context: it doesn't have an illustrative name. It's not always obvious that null means "no value for this parameter" -- heck, as a return value, sometimes it means "error", or even "success" (!!), or simply "the correct answer is nothing". Optional is frequently the concept you actually mean when you make a variable nullable, but not always.
more: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9561295/whats-the-point-of-guavas-optional-class
Optional class: http://docs.guava-libraries.googlecode.com/git/javadoc/com/google/common/base/Optional.html
Example in com.sk89q.intake.argument.Namespace
/**
* Returns the value specified by the given key.
*
* @param key The key
* @return The value, which may be null, including when the key doesn't exist
*/
public Optional<Object> get(Object key) {
if (!locals.containsKey(key)) Optional.absent();
return Optional.of(locals.get(key));
}
/**
* Get an object whose key will be the object's class.
*
* @param key The key
* @param <T> The type of object
* @return The value
*/
@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
public <T> Optional<T> get(Class<T> key) {
if (!locals.containsKey(key)) Optional.absent();
return Optional.of((T)locals.get(key));
}
Activity
sk89q commentedon Jun 25, 2015
I don't use Guava's Optional because it's not a proper monad and so you end up writing a lot of boilerplate code everywhere to deal with Optionals. I prefer Java 8's Optional, but it's too early to require Java 8 (plus optionals/monads are still a pain to work with prior to lambdas).
nikosgram commentedon Jun 25, 2015
Ow, ok.
sk89q commentedon Jun 25, 2015
I was going to leave the ticket open in case there was a demand to switch over.
nikosgram commentedon Jun 25, 2015
I do not think there is demand to switch over, but okay. 😄
twizmwazin commentedon Jun 25, 2015
I would prefer use of the Optional class over nullables.
onbjerg commentedon Aug 7, 2015
👎