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Java Optional params good practice [duplicate]

Having been using Java 8 now for 6+ months or so, I'm pretty happy with the new API changes. One area I'm still not confident in is when to use Optional. I seem to swing between wanting to use it everywhere something may be null, and nowhere at all.
There seem to be a lot of situations when I could use it, and I'm never sure if it adds benefits (readability / null safety) or just causes additional overhead.
So, I have a few examples, and I'd be interested in the community's thoughts on whether Optional is beneficial.
1 - As a public method return type when the method could return null:
public Optional<Foo> findFoo(String id);
2 - As a method parameter when the param may be null:
public Foo doSomething(String id, Optional<Bar> barOptional);
3 - As an optional member of a bean:
public class Book {
private List<Pages> pages;
private Optional<Index> index;
}
4 - In Collections:
In general I don't think:
List<Optional<Foo>>
adds anything - especially since one can use filter() to remove null values etc, but are there any good uses for Optional in collections?
Any cases I've missed?

The main design goal of Optional is to provide a means for a function returning a value to indicate the absence of a return value. See this discussion. This allows the caller to continue a chain of fluent method calls.
This most closely matches use case #1 in the OP's question. Although, absence of a value is a more precise formulation than null since something like IntStream.findFirst could never return null.
For use case #2, passing an optional argument to a method, this could be made to work, but it's rather clumsy. Suppose you have a method that takes a string followed by an optional second string. Accepting an Optional as the second arg would result in code like this:
foo("bar", Optional.of("baz"));
foo("bar", Optional.empty());
Even accepting null is nicer:
foo("bar", "baz");
foo("bar", null);
Probably the best is to have an overloaded method that accepts a single string argument and provides a default for the second:
foo("bar", "baz");
foo("bar");
This does have limitations, but it's much nicer than either of the above.
Use cases #3 and #4, having an Optional in a class field or in a data structure, is considered a misuse of the API. First, it goes against the main design goal of Optional as stated at the top. Second, it doesn't add any value.
There are three ways to deal with the absence of a value in an Optional: to provide a substitute value, to call a function to provide a substitute value, or to throw an exception. If you're storing into a field, you'd do this at initialization or assignment time. If you're adding values into a list, as the OP mentioned, you have the additional choice of simply not adding the value, thereby "flattening" out absent values.
I'm sure somebody could come up with some contrived cases where they really want to store an Optional in a field or a collection, but in general, it is best to avoid doing this.

I'm late to the game but for what it's worth, I want to add my 2 Cents. They go against the design goal of Optional, which is well summarized by Stuart Marks's answer, but I'm still convinced of their validity (obviously).
Use Optional Everywhere
In General
I wrote an entire blog post about using Optional but it basically comes down to this:
design your classes to avoid optionality wherever feasibly possible
in all remaining cases, the default should be to use Optional instead of null
possibly make exceptions for:
local variables
return values and arguments to private methods
performance critical code blocks (no guesses, use a profiler)
The first two exceptions can reduce the perceived overhead of wrapping and unwrapping references in Optional. They are chosen such that a null can never legally pass a boundary from one instance into another.
Note that this will almost never allow Optionals in collections which is almost as bad as nulls. Just don't do it. ;)
Regarding your questions
Yes.
If overloading is no option, yes.
If other approaches (subclassing, decorating, ...) are no option, yes.
Please no!
Advantages
Doing this reduces the presence of nulls in your code base, although it does not eradicate them. But that is not even the main point. There are other important advantages:
Clarifies Intent
Using Optional clearly expresses that the variable is, well, optional. Any reader of your code or consumer of your API will be beaten over the head with the fact that there might be nothing there and that a check is necessary before accessing the value.
Removes Uncertainty
Without Optional the meaning of a null occurrence is unclear. It could be a legal representation of a state (see Map.get) or an implementation error like a missing or failed initialization.
This changes dramatically with the persistent use of Optional. Here, already the occurrence of null signifies the presence of a bug. (Because if the value were allowed to be missing, an Optional would have been used.) This makes debugging a null pointer exception much easier as the question of the meaning of this null is already answered.
More Null Checks
Now that nothing can be null anymore, this can be enforced everywhere. Whether with annotations, assertions or plain checks, you never have to think about whether this argument or that return type can be null. It can't!
Disadvantages
Of course, there is no silver bullet...
Performance
Wrapping values (especially primitives) into an extra instance can degrade performance. In tight loops this might become noticeable or even worse.
Note that the compiler might be able to circumvent the extra reference for short lived lifetimes of Optionals. In Java 10 value types might further reduce or remove the penalty.
Serialization
Optional is not serializable but a workaround is not overly complicated.
Invariance
Due to the invariance of generic types in Java, certain operations become cumbersome when the actual value type is pushed into a generic type argument. An example is given here (see "Parametric polymorphism").

Personally, I prefer to use IntelliJ's Code Inspection Tool to use #NotNull and #Nullable checks as these are largely compile time (can have some runtime checks) This has lower overhead in terms of code readability and runtime performance. It is not as rigorous as using Optional, however this lack of rigour should be backed by decent unit tests.
public #Nullable Foo findFoo(#NotNull String id);
public #NotNull Foo doSomething(#NotNull String id, #Nullable Bar barOptional);
public class Book {
private List<Pages> pages;
private #Nullable Index index;
}
List<#Nullable Foo> list = ..
This works with Java 5 and no need to wrap and unwrap values. (or create wrapper objects)

I think the Guava Optional and their wiki page puts it quite well:
Besides the increase in readability that comes from giving null a name, the biggest advantage of Optional is its idiot-proof-ness. It forces you to actively think about the absent case if you want your program to compile at all, since you have to actively unwrap the Optional and address that case. Null makes it disturbingly easy to simply forget things, and though FindBugs helps, we don't think it addresses the issue nearly as well.
This is especially relevant when you're returning values that may or may not be "present." You (and others) are far more likely to forget that other.method(a, b) could return a null value than you're likely to forget that a could be null when you're implementing other.method. Returning Optional makes it impossible for callers to forget that case, since they have to unwrap the object themselves for their code to compile.
-- (Source: Guava Wiki - Using and Avoiding null - What's the point?)
Optional adds some overhead, but I think its clear advantage is to make it explicit
that an object might be absent and it enforces that programmers handle the situation. It prevents that someone forgets the beloved != null check.
Taking the example of 2, I think it is far more explicit code to write:
if(soundcard.isPresent()){
System.out.println(soundcard.get());
}
than
if(soundcard != null){
System.out.println(soundcard);
}
For me, the Optional better captures the fact that there is no soundcard present.
My 2¢ about your points:
public Optional<Foo> findFoo(String id); - I am not sure about this. Maybe I would return a Result<Foo> which might be empty or contain a Foo. It is a similar concept, but not really an Optional.
public Foo doSomething(String id, Optional<Bar> barOptional); - I would prefer #Nullable and a findbugs check, as in Peter Lawrey's answer - see also this discussion.
Your book example - I am not sure if I would use the Optional internally, that might depend on the complexity. For the "API" of a book, I would use an Optional<Index> getIndex() to explicitly indicate that the book might not have an index.
I would not use it in collections, rather not allowing null values in collections
In general, I would try to minimize passing around nulls. (Once burnt...)
I think it is worth to find the appropriate abstractions and indicate to the fellow programmers what a certain return value actually represents.

From Oracle tutorial:
The purpose of Optional is not to replace every single null reference in your codebase but rather to help design better APIs in which—just by reading the signature of a method—users can tell whether to expect an optional value. In addition, Optional forces you to actively unwrap an Optional to deal with the absence of a value; as a result, you protect your code against unintended null pointer exceptions.

In java, just don't use them unless you are addicted to functional programming.
They have no place as method arguments (I promess someone one day will pass you a null optional, not just an optional that is empty).
They make sense for return values but they invite the client class to keep on stretching the behavior-building chain.
FP and chains have little place in an imperative language like java because it makes it very hard to debug, not just to read. When you step to the line, you can't know the state nor intent of the program; you have to step into to figure it out (into code that often isn't yours and many stack frames deep despite step filters) and you have to add lots of breakpoints down to make sure it can stop in the code/lambda you added, instead of simply walking the if/else/call trivial lines.
If you want functional programming, pick something else than java and hope you have the tools for debugging that.

1 - As a public method return type when the method could return null:
Here is a good article that shows usefulness of usecase #1. There this code
...
if (user != null) {
Address address = user.getAddress();
if (address != null) {
Country country = address.getCountry();
if (country != null) {
String isocode = country.getIsocode();
isocode = isocode.toUpperCase();
}
}
}
...
is transformed to this
String result = Optional.ofNullable(user)
.flatMap(User::getAddress)
.flatMap(Address::getCountry)
.map(Country::getIsocode)
.orElse("default");
by using Optional as a return value of respective getter methods.

Here is an interesting usage (I believe) for... Tests.
I intend to heavily test one of my projects and I therefore build assertions; only there are things I have to verify and others I don't.
I therefore build things to assert and use an assert to verify them, like this:
public final class NodeDescriptor<V>
{
private final Optional<String> label;
private final List<NodeDescriptor<V>> children;
private NodeDescriptor(final Builder<V> builder)
{
label = Optional.fromNullable(builder.label);
final ImmutableList.Builder<NodeDescriptor<V>> listBuilder
= ImmutableList.builder();
for (final Builder<V> element: builder.children)
listBuilder.add(element.build());
children = listBuilder.build();
}
public static <E> Builder<E> newBuilder()
{
return new Builder<E>();
}
public void verify(#Nonnull final Node<V> node)
{
final NodeAssert<V> nodeAssert = new NodeAssert<V>(node);
nodeAssert.hasLabel(label);
}
public static final class Builder<V>
{
private String label;
private final List<Builder<V>> children = Lists.newArrayList();
private Builder()
{
}
public Builder<V> withLabel(#Nonnull final String label)
{
this.label = Preconditions.checkNotNull(label);
return this;
}
public Builder<V> withChildNode(#Nonnull final Builder<V> child)
{
Preconditions.checkNotNull(child);
children.add(child);
return this;
}
public NodeDescriptor<V> build()
{
return new NodeDescriptor<V>(this);
}
}
}
In the NodeAssert class, I do this:
public final class NodeAssert<V>
extends AbstractAssert<NodeAssert<V>, Node<V>>
{
NodeAssert(final Node<V> actual)
{
super(Preconditions.checkNotNull(actual), NodeAssert.class);
}
private NodeAssert<V> hasLabel(final String label)
{
final String thisLabel = actual.getLabel();
assertThat(thisLabel).overridingErrorMessage(
"node's label is null! I didn't expect it to be"
).isNotNull();
assertThat(thisLabel).overridingErrorMessage(
"node's label is not what was expected!\n"
+ "Expected: '%s'\nActual : '%s'\n", label, thisLabel
).isEqualTo(label);
return this;
}
NodeAssert<V> hasLabel(#Nonnull final Optional<String> label)
{
return label.isPresent() ? hasLabel(label.get()) : this;
}
}
Which means the assert really only triggers if I want to check the label!

Optional class lets you avoid to use null and provide a better alternative:
This encourages the developer to make checks for presence in order to avoid uncaught NullPointerException's.
API becomes better documented because it's possible to see, where to expect the values which can be absent.
Optional provides convenient API for further work with the object:
isPresent(); get(); orElse(); orElseGet(); orElseThrow(); map(); filter(); flatmap().
In addition, many frameworks actively use this data type and return it from their API.

An Optional has similar semantics to an unmodifiable instance of the Iterator design pattern:
it might or might not refer to an object (as given by isPresent())
it can be dereferenced (using get()) if it does refer to an object
but it can not be advanced to the next position in the sequence (it has no next() method).
Therefore consider returning or passing an Optional in contexts where you might previously have considered using a Java Iterator.

Here are some of the methods that you can perform on an instance of Optional<T>:
map
flatMap
orElse
orElseThrow
ifPresentOrElse
get
Here are all the methods that you can perform on null:
(there are none)
This is really an apples to oranges comparison: Optional<T> is an actual instance of an object (unless it is null… but that would probably be a bug) while null is an aborted object. All you can do with null is check whether it is in fact null, or not. So if you like to use methods on objects, Optional<T> is for you; if you like to branch on special literals, null is for you.
null does not compose. You simply can’t compose a value which you can only branch on. But Optional<T> does compose.
You can, for instance, make arbitrary long chains of “apply this function if non-empty” by using map. Or you can effectively make an imperative block of code which consumes the optional if it is non-empty by using ifPresent. Or you can make an “if/else” by using ifPresentOrElse, which consumes the non-empty optional if it is non-empty or else executes some other code.
…And it is at this point that we run into the true limitations of the language in my opinion: for very imperative code you have to wrap them in lambdas and pass them to methods:
opt.ifPresentOrElse(
string -> { // if present...
// ...
}, () -> { // or else...
// ...
}
);
That might not be good enough for some people, style-wise.
It would be more seamless if Optional<T> was an algebraic data type that we could pattern match on (this is obviously pseudo-code:
match (opt) {
Present(str) => {
// ...
}
Empty =>{
// ...
}
}
But anyway, in summary: Optional<T> is a pretty robust empty-or-present object. null is just a sentinel value.
Subjectively disregarded reasons
There seems to be a few people who effectively argue that efficiency should determine whether one should use Optional<T> or branch on the null sentinel value. That seems a bit like making hard and fast rules on when to make objects rather than primitives in the general case. I think it’s a bit ridiculous to use that as the starting point for this discussion when you’re already working in a language where it’s idiomatic to make objects left-and-right, top to bottom, all the time (in my opinion).

I do not think that Optional is a general substitute for methods that potentially return null values.
The basic idea is: The absence of a value does not mean that it potentially is available in the future. It's a difference between findById(-1) and findById(67).
The main information of Optionals for the caller is that he may not count on the value given but it may be available at some time. Maybe it will disappear again and comes back later one more time. It's like an on/off switch. You have the "option" to switch the light on or off. But you have no option if you do not have a light to switch on.
So I find it too messy to introduce Optionals everywhere where previously null was potentially returned. I will still use null, but only in restricted areas like the root of a tree, lazy initialization and explicit find-methods.

Seems Optional is only useful if the type T in Optional is a primitive type like int, long, char, etc. For "real" classes, it does not make sense to me as you can use a null value anyway.
I think it was taken from here (or from another similar language concept).
Nullable<T>
In C# this Nullable<T> was introduced long ago to wrap value types.

1 - As a public method return type when the method could return null:
This is the intended use case for Optional, as seen in the JDK API docs:
Optional is primarily intended for use as a method return type where
there is a clear need to represent "no result," and where using null
is likely to cause errors.
Optional represents one of two states:
it has a value (isPresent returns true)
it doesn't have a value (isEmpty returns true)
So if you have a method that returns either something or nothing, this is the ideal use case for Optional.
Here's an example:
Optional<Guitarist> findByLastName(String lastName);
This method takes a parameter used to search for an entity in the database. It's possible that no such entity exists, so using an Optional return type is a good idea since it forces whoever is calling the method to consider the empty scenario. This reduces chances of a NullPointerException.
2 - As a method parameter when the param may be null:
Although technically possible, this is not the intended use case of Optional.
Let's consider your proposed method signature:
public Foo doSomething(String id, Optional<Bar> barOptional);
The main problem is that we could call doSomething where barOptional has one of 3 states:
an Optional with a value e.g. doSomething("123", Optional.of(new Bar())
an empty Optional e.g. doSomething("123", Optional.empty())
null e.g. doSomething("123", null)
These 3 states would need to be handled in the method implementation appropriately.
A better solution is to implement an overloaded method.
public Foo doSomething(String id);
public Foo doSomething(String id, Bar bar);
This makes it very clear to the consumer of the API which method to call, and null does not need to be passed.
3 - As an optional member of a bean:
Given your example Book class:
public class Book {
private List<Pages> pages;
private Optional<Index> index;
}
The Optional class variable suffers from the same issue as the Optional method parameter discussed above. It can have one of 3 states: present, empty, or null.
Other possible issues include:
serialization: if you implement Serializable and try to serialize an object of this class, you will encounter a java.io.NotSerializableException since Optional was not designed for this use case
transforming to JSON: when serializing to JSON an Optional field may get mapped in an undesirable way e.g. {"empty":false,"present":true}.
Although if you use the popular Jackson library, it does provide a solution to this problem.
Despite these issues, Oracle themselves published this blog post at the time of the Java 8 Optional release in 2014. It contains code examples using Optional for class variables.
public class Computer {
private Optional<Soundcard> soundcard;
public Optional<Soundcard> getSoundcard() { ... }
...
}
In the following years though, developers have found better alternatives such as implementing a getter method to create the Optional object.
public class Book {
private List<Pages> pages;
private Index index;
public Optional<Index> getIndex() {
return Optional.ofNullable(index);
}
}
Here we use the ofNullable method to return an Optional with a value if index is non-null, or otherwise an empty Optional.
4 - In Collections:
I agree that creating a List of Optional (e.g. List<Optional<Foo>>) doesn't add anything.
Instead, just don't include the item in the List if it's not present.

Null object design pattern Vs null object check

Why null object design pattern is better than null object check.
If we look at the memory footprint in null object design pattern we create a new dummy object of same type. Which show if we have object of big size and large number of nullable objects in search query, this pattern will create that much number of null object which will occupy more memory than a simple check which for null which my cost ignoreable delay in performance.
Null Object design pattern

The whole problem with null is that if you try to access a null value the application will throw a NullPointerException and abort.
To reduce the number of class NullXXX in this null object design pattern (its actually just the factory design dattern, not a pattern itself) you could make a static final NullCustomer which is always returned.
In Java 8 you can use the Optional approach in order to tell when a function does not always return values. This approach does not force you to create arbitrary null classes which pollute the overall structure (consider may have to refactor those null classes, too).
Eclipse and IntelliJ also offer compile time annotations #Nullable, #NonNull which give compiler warnings when accessing potential null objects. However, many frameworks are not annotated. IntelliJ therefore tries to discover those potential null accesses with static analysis.
Beside low adoption of this approach IntelliJ and Eclipse use their own annotations (org.eclipse.jdt.annotation.NonNull, com.intellij.annotations.NotNull) that those are not compatible. But, you can store the annotations outside of the code which works in IntelliJ. Eclipse want to implement this in the future, too. The problem is that there are many frameworks providing this feature giving you many different annotations doing the very same. There was JSR-305 which is dormant. It'd provide an annotation in javax. I don't know the reason why they did not pushed this further.

The major advantage of using Null Object rather than null is that using null you have to repeat checks of whether that object is indeed null, particularly in all methods that require that object.
In Java 8, one will have to do:
Object o = Objects.requireNotNull(o); //Throws NullPointerException if o is indeed null.
So, if you have a method that constantly pass the same object into various method, each method will need to check that the object received is not null before using it.
So, a better approach is to have a Null Object, or Optional (Java 8 and higher) so that you don't need to do the null check all the time. Instead one would:
Object o = optional.get(); //Throws NullPointerException if internal value is indeed null.
//Keep using o.
No (really) need for null checking. The fact that you have an Optional means that you might have a value or none.
Null Objects have no side effects because it usually does nothing (usually all methods is an empty method) so there is no need to worry about performance (bottlenecks/optimization/etc).

The main difference (and probably the advantage) of this pattern is distinctness. Think about the following method definition:
public static int length(String str);
This method calculates length of given string. But could argument be null? What will the method do? Throw exception? Return 0? Return -1? We do not know.
Some partial solution can be achieved by writing good java doc. The next and a little bit better solution is using annotations JSR305 annotattion #Nullable or #NotNullable that however can be ignored by developer.
If however you are using Null object pattern (e.g. Optional of guava or java 8) your code looks like the following:
public static int length(Optional<String> str);
So developer must care about wrapping his string into Optional and therefore understands that argument can be null. Attempt to get value from Optional that contains null causes exception that does not always happen when working with regular null.
Obviously you are right that using this pattern causes some additional CPU and memory consumption that however are not significant in most cases.

Suppose you have something like this:
private SomeClass someField;
void someMethod() {
// some other code
someField.method1();
// some other code
someField.method2();
// some other code
someField.method3();
}
Now suppose that there are valid use cases when someField can be null and you don't want to invoke its methods, but you want to execute the other some other code sections of the method. You would need to implement the method as:
void someMethod() {
// do something
if (someField != null) {
someField.method1();
}
// do something
if (someField != null) {
someField.method2();
}
// do something
if (someField != null) {
someField.method3();
}
}
By using Null object with empty (no-op) methods we avoid boilerplate null checks (and the possibility to forget to add the checks for all of the occurrences).
I often find this useful in situations when something is initialized asynchronously or optionally.

Uses for Optional

Having been using Java 8 now for 6+ months or so, I'm pretty happy with the new API changes. One area I'm still not confident in is when to use Optional. I seem to swing between wanting to use it everywhere something may be null, and nowhere at all.
There seem to be a lot of situations when I could use it, and I'm never sure if it adds benefits (readability / null safety) or just causes additional overhead.
So, I have a few examples, and I'd be interested in the community's thoughts on whether Optional is beneficial.
1 - As a public method return type when the method could return null:
public Optional<Foo> findFoo(String id);
2 - As a method parameter when the param may be null:
public Foo doSomething(String id, Optional<Bar> barOptional);
3 - As an optional member of a bean:
public class Book {
private List<Pages> pages;
private Optional<Index> index;
}
4 - In Collections:
In general I don't think:
List<Optional<Foo>>
adds anything - especially since one can use filter() to remove null values etc, but are there any good uses for Optional in collections?
Any cases I've missed?

The main design goal of Optional is to provide a means for a function returning a value to indicate the absence of a return value. See this discussion. This allows the caller to continue a chain of fluent method calls.
This most closely matches use case #1 in the OP's question. Although, absence of a value is a more precise formulation than null since something like IntStream.findFirst could never return null.
For use case #2, passing an optional argument to a method, this could be made to work, but it's rather clumsy. Suppose you have a method that takes a string followed by an optional second string. Accepting an Optional as the second arg would result in code like this:
foo("bar", Optional.of("baz"));
foo("bar", Optional.empty());
Even accepting null is nicer:
foo("bar", "baz");
foo("bar", null);
Probably the best is to have an overloaded method that accepts a single string argument and provides a default for the second:
foo("bar", "baz");
foo("bar");
This does have limitations, but it's much nicer than either of the above.
Use cases #3 and #4, having an Optional in a class field or in a data structure, is considered a misuse of the API. First, it goes against the main design goal of Optional as stated at the top. Second, it doesn't add any value.
There are three ways to deal with the absence of a value in an Optional: to provide a substitute value, to call a function to provide a substitute value, or to throw an exception. If you're storing into a field, you'd do this at initialization or assignment time. If you're adding values into a list, as the OP mentioned, you have the additional choice of simply not adding the value, thereby "flattening" out absent values.
I'm sure somebody could come up with some contrived cases where they really want to store an Optional in a field or a collection, but in general, it is best to avoid doing this.

I'm late to the game but for what it's worth, I want to add my 2 Cents. They go against the design goal of Optional, which is well summarized by Stuart Marks's answer, but I'm still convinced of their validity (obviously).
Use Optional Everywhere
In General
I wrote an entire blog post about using Optional but it basically comes down to this:
design your classes to avoid optionality wherever feasibly possible
in all remaining cases, the default should be to use Optional instead of null
possibly make exceptions for:
local variables
return values and arguments to private methods
performance critical code blocks (no guesses, use a profiler)
The first two exceptions can reduce the perceived overhead of wrapping and unwrapping references in Optional. They are chosen such that a null can never legally pass a boundary from one instance into another.
Note that this will almost never allow Optionals in collections which is almost as bad as nulls. Just don't do it. ;)
Regarding your questions
Yes.
If overloading is no option, yes.
If other approaches (subclassing, decorating, ...) are no option, yes.
Please no!
Advantages
Doing this reduces the presence of nulls in your code base, although it does not eradicate them. But that is not even the main point. There are other important advantages:
Clarifies Intent
Using Optional clearly expresses that the variable is, well, optional. Any reader of your code or consumer of your API will be beaten over the head with the fact that there might be nothing there and that a check is necessary before accessing the value.
Removes Uncertainty
Without Optional the meaning of a null occurrence is unclear. It could be a legal representation of a state (see Map.get) or an implementation error like a missing or failed initialization.
This changes dramatically with the persistent use of Optional. Here, already the occurrence of null signifies the presence of a bug. (Because if the value were allowed to be missing, an Optional would have been used.) This makes debugging a null pointer exception much easier as the question of the meaning of this null is already answered.
More Null Checks
Now that nothing can be null anymore, this can be enforced everywhere. Whether with annotations, assertions or plain checks, you never have to think about whether this argument or that return type can be null. It can't!
Disadvantages
Of course, there is no silver bullet...
Performance
Wrapping values (especially primitives) into an extra instance can degrade performance. In tight loops this might become noticeable or even worse.
Note that the compiler might be able to circumvent the extra reference for short lived lifetimes of Optionals. In Java 10 value types might further reduce or remove the penalty.
Serialization
Optional is not serializable but a workaround is not overly complicated.
Invariance
Due to the invariance of generic types in Java, certain operations become cumbersome when the actual value type is pushed into a generic type argument. An example is given here (see "Parametric polymorphism").

Personally, I prefer to use IntelliJ's Code Inspection Tool to use #NotNull and #Nullable checks as these are largely compile time (can have some runtime checks) This has lower overhead in terms of code readability and runtime performance. It is not as rigorous as using Optional, however this lack of rigour should be backed by decent unit tests.
public #Nullable Foo findFoo(#NotNull String id);
public #NotNull Foo doSomething(#NotNull String id, #Nullable Bar barOptional);
public class Book {
private List<Pages> pages;
private #Nullable Index index;
}
List<#Nullable Foo> list = ..
This works with Java 5 and no need to wrap and unwrap values. (or create wrapper objects)

I think the Guava Optional and their wiki page puts it quite well:
Besides the increase in readability that comes from giving null a name, the biggest advantage of Optional is its idiot-proof-ness. It forces you to actively think about the absent case if you want your program to compile at all, since you have to actively unwrap the Optional and address that case. Null makes it disturbingly easy to simply forget things, and though FindBugs helps, we don't think it addresses the issue nearly as well.
This is especially relevant when you're returning values that may or may not be "present." You (and others) are far more likely to forget that other.method(a, b) could return a null value than you're likely to forget that a could be null when you're implementing other.method. Returning Optional makes it impossible for callers to forget that case, since they have to unwrap the object themselves for their code to compile.
-- (Source: Guava Wiki - Using and Avoiding null - What's the point?)
Optional adds some overhead, but I think its clear advantage is to make it explicit
that an object might be absent and it enforces that programmers handle the situation. It prevents that someone forgets the beloved != null check.
Taking the example of 2, I think it is far more explicit code to write:
if(soundcard.isPresent()){
System.out.println(soundcard.get());
}
than
if(soundcard != null){
System.out.println(soundcard);
}
For me, the Optional better captures the fact that there is no soundcard present.
My 2¢ about your points:
public Optional<Foo> findFoo(String id); - I am not sure about this. Maybe I would return a Result<Foo> which might be empty or contain a Foo. It is a similar concept, but not really an Optional.
public Foo doSomething(String id, Optional<Bar> barOptional); - I would prefer #Nullable and a findbugs check, as in Peter Lawrey's answer - see also this discussion.
Your book example - I am not sure if I would use the Optional internally, that might depend on the complexity. For the "API" of a book, I would use an Optional<Index> getIndex() to explicitly indicate that the book might not have an index.
I would not use it in collections, rather not allowing null values in collections
In general, I would try to minimize passing around nulls. (Once burnt...)
I think it is worth to find the appropriate abstractions and indicate to the fellow programmers what a certain return value actually represents.

From Oracle tutorial:
The purpose of Optional is not to replace every single null reference in your codebase but rather to help design better APIs in which—just by reading the signature of a method—users can tell whether to expect an optional value. In addition, Optional forces you to actively unwrap an Optional to deal with the absence of a value; as a result, you protect your code against unintended null pointer exceptions.

In java, just don't use them unless you are addicted to functional programming.
They have no place as method arguments (I promess someone one day will pass you a null optional, not just an optional that is empty).
They make sense for return values but they invite the client class to keep on stretching the behavior-building chain.
FP and chains have little place in an imperative language like java because it makes it very hard to debug, not just to read. When you step to the line, you can't know the state nor intent of the program; you have to step into to figure it out (into code that often isn't yours and many stack frames deep despite step filters) and you have to add lots of breakpoints down to make sure it can stop in the code/lambda you added, instead of simply walking the if/else/call trivial lines.
If you want functional programming, pick something else than java and hope you have the tools for debugging that.

1 - As a public method return type when the method could return null:
Here is a good article that shows usefulness of usecase #1. There this code
...
if (user != null) {
Address address = user.getAddress();
if (address != null) {
Country country = address.getCountry();
if (country != null) {
String isocode = country.getIsocode();
isocode = isocode.toUpperCase();
}
}
}
...
is transformed to this
String result = Optional.ofNullable(user)
.flatMap(User::getAddress)
.flatMap(Address::getCountry)
.map(Country::getIsocode)
.orElse("default");
by using Optional as a return value of respective getter methods.

Here is an interesting usage (I believe) for... Tests.
I intend to heavily test one of my projects and I therefore build assertions; only there are things I have to verify and others I don't.
I therefore build things to assert and use an assert to verify them, like this:
public final class NodeDescriptor<V>
{
private final Optional<String> label;
private final List<NodeDescriptor<V>> children;
private NodeDescriptor(final Builder<V> builder)
{
label = Optional.fromNullable(builder.label);
final ImmutableList.Builder<NodeDescriptor<V>> listBuilder
= ImmutableList.builder();
for (final Builder<V> element: builder.children)
listBuilder.add(element.build());
children = listBuilder.build();
}
public static <E> Builder<E> newBuilder()
{
return new Builder<E>();
}
public void verify(#Nonnull final Node<V> node)
{
final NodeAssert<V> nodeAssert = new NodeAssert<V>(node);
nodeAssert.hasLabel(label);
}
public static final class Builder<V>
{
private String label;
private final List<Builder<V>> children = Lists.newArrayList();
private Builder()
{
}
public Builder<V> withLabel(#Nonnull final String label)
{
this.label = Preconditions.checkNotNull(label);
return this;
}
public Builder<V> withChildNode(#Nonnull final Builder<V> child)
{
Preconditions.checkNotNull(child);
children.add(child);
return this;
}
public NodeDescriptor<V> build()
{
return new NodeDescriptor<V>(this);
}
}
}
In the NodeAssert class, I do this:
public final class NodeAssert<V>
extends AbstractAssert<NodeAssert<V>, Node<V>>
{
NodeAssert(final Node<V> actual)
{
super(Preconditions.checkNotNull(actual), NodeAssert.class);
}
private NodeAssert<V> hasLabel(final String label)
{
final String thisLabel = actual.getLabel();
assertThat(thisLabel).overridingErrorMessage(
"node's label is null! I didn't expect it to be"
).isNotNull();
assertThat(thisLabel).overridingErrorMessage(
"node's label is not what was expected!\n"
+ "Expected: '%s'\nActual : '%s'\n", label, thisLabel
).isEqualTo(label);
return this;
}
NodeAssert<V> hasLabel(#Nonnull final Optional<String> label)
{
return label.isPresent() ? hasLabel(label.get()) : this;
}
}
Which means the assert really only triggers if I want to check the label!

Optional class lets you avoid to use null and provide a better alternative:
This encourages the developer to make checks for presence in order to avoid uncaught NullPointerException's.
API becomes better documented because it's possible to see, where to expect the values which can be absent.
Optional provides convenient API for further work with the object:
isPresent(); get(); orElse(); orElseGet(); orElseThrow(); map(); filter(); flatmap().
In addition, many frameworks actively use this data type and return it from their API.

An Optional has similar semantics to an unmodifiable instance of the Iterator design pattern:
it might or might not refer to an object (as given by isPresent())
it can be dereferenced (using get()) if it does refer to an object
but it can not be advanced to the next position in the sequence (it has no next() method).
Therefore consider returning or passing an Optional in contexts where you might previously have considered using a Java Iterator.

Here are some of the methods that you can perform on an instance of Optional<T>:
map
flatMap
orElse
orElseThrow
ifPresentOrElse
get
Here are all the methods that you can perform on null:
(there are none)
This is really an apples to oranges comparison: Optional<T> is an actual instance of an object (unless it is null… but that would probably be a bug) while null is an aborted object. All you can do with null is check whether it is in fact null, or not. So if you like to use methods on objects, Optional<T> is for you; if you like to branch on special literals, null is for you.
null does not compose. You simply can’t compose a value which you can only branch on. But Optional<T> does compose.
You can, for instance, make arbitrary long chains of “apply this function if non-empty” by using map. Or you can effectively make an imperative block of code which consumes the optional if it is non-empty by using ifPresent. Or you can make an “if/else” by using ifPresentOrElse, which consumes the non-empty optional if it is non-empty or else executes some other code.
…And it is at this point that we run into the true limitations of the language in my opinion: for very imperative code you have to wrap them in lambdas and pass them to methods:
opt.ifPresentOrElse(
string -> { // if present...
// ...
}, () -> { // or else...
// ...
}
);
That might not be good enough for some people, style-wise.
It would be more seamless if Optional<T> was an algebraic data type that we could pattern match on (this is obviously pseudo-code:
match (opt) {
Present(str) => {
// ...
}
Empty =>{
// ...
}
}
But anyway, in summary: Optional<T> is a pretty robust empty-or-present object. null is just a sentinel value.
Subjectively disregarded reasons
There seems to be a few people who effectively argue that efficiency should determine whether one should use Optional<T> or branch on the null sentinel value. That seems a bit like making hard and fast rules on when to make objects rather than primitives in the general case. I think it’s a bit ridiculous to use that as the starting point for this discussion when you’re already working in a language where it’s idiomatic to make objects left-and-right, top to bottom, all the time (in my opinion).

I do not think that Optional is a general substitute for methods that potentially return null values.
The basic idea is: The absence of a value does not mean that it potentially is available in the future. It's a difference between findById(-1) and findById(67).
The main information of Optionals for the caller is that he may not count on the value given but it may be available at some time. Maybe it will disappear again and comes back later one more time. It's like an on/off switch. You have the "option" to switch the light on or off. But you have no option if you do not have a light to switch on.
So I find it too messy to introduce Optionals everywhere where previously null was potentially returned. I will still use null, but only in restricted areas like the root of a tree, lazy initialization and explicit find-methods.

Seems Optional is only useful if the type T in Optional is a primitive type like int, long, char, etc. For "real" classes, it does not make sense to me as you can use a null value anyway.
I think it was taken from here (or from another similar language concept).
Nullable<T>
In C# this Nullable<T> was introduced long ago to wrap value types.

1 - As a public method return type when the method could return null:
This is the intended use case for Optional, as seen in the JDK API docs:
Optional is primarily intended for use as a method return type where
there is a clear need to represent "no result," and where using null
is likely to cause errors.
Optional represents one of two states:
it has a value (isPresent returns true)
it doesn't have a value (isEmpty returns true)
So if you have a method that returns either something or nothing, this is the ideal use case for Optional.
Here's an example:
Optional<Guitarist> findByLastName(String lastName);
This method takes a parameter used to search for an entity in the database. It's possible that no such entity exists, so using an Optional return type is a good idea since it forces whoever is calling the method to consider the empty scenario. This reduces chances of a NullPointerException.
2 - As a method parameter when the param may be null:
Although technically possible, this is not the intended use case of Optional.
Let's consider your proposed method signature:
public Foo doSomething(String id, Optional<Bar> barOptional);
The main problem is that we could call doSomething where barOptional has one of 3 states:
an Optional with a value e.g. doSomething("123", Optional.of(new Bar())
an empty Optional e.g. doSomething("123", Optional.empty())
null e.g. doSomething("123", null)
These 3 states would need to be handled in the method implementation appropriately.
A better solution is to implement an overloaded method.
public Foo doSomething(String id);
public Foo doSomething(String id, Bar bar);
This makes it very clear to the consumer of the API which method to call, and null does not need to be passed.
3 - As an optional member of a bean:
Given your example Book class:
public class Book {
private List<Pages> pages;
private Optional<Index> index;
}
The Optional class variable suffers from the same issue as the Optional method parameter discussed above. It can have one of 3 states: present, empty, or null.
Other possible issues include:
serialization: if you implement Serializable and try to serialize an object of this class, you will encounter a java.io.NotSerializableException since Optional was not designed for this use case
transforming to JSON: when serializing to JSON an Optional field may get mapped in an undesirable way e.g. {"empty":false,"present":true}.
Although if you use the popular Jackson library, it does provide a solution to this problem.
Despite these issues, Oracle themselves published this blog post at the time of the Java 8 Optional release in 2014. It contains code examples using Optional for class variables.
public class Computer {
private Optional<Soundcard> soundcard;
public Optional<Soundcard> getSoundcard() { ... }
...
}
In the following years though, developers have found better alternatives such as implementing a getter method to create the Optional object.
public class Book {
private List<Pages> pages;
private Index index;
public Optional<Index> getIndex() {
return Optional.ofNullable(index);
}
}
Here we use the ofNullable method to return an Optional with a value if index is non-null, or otherwise an empty Optional.
4 - In Collections:
I agree that creating a List of Optional (e.g. List<Optional<Foo>>) doesn't add anything.
Instead, just don't include the item in the List if it's not present.

Checking all function parameter in all the functions

When I first moved from c to Java I thought that I've finished will all the annoying parameter checks in the begining of every function . (Blessed exceptions)
Lately I've realized that I'm slowly moving back to that practice again , and I'm starting to get really annoyed with all the
if (null == a || null == b || null == a.getValue() || ...)
{
return null;
}
For example , I have a utility class that analyses web pages and extract specific elements from them. Any call to dom object function with null elements usually results in an exception - So in almost any function I write in this class has countless null checks :
private URL extractUrl(Element element) throws Exception {
if (null == element) {
return null;
} ...
public List<Object> getConcreteElements(String xpath) throws Exception {
if (null == xpath) {
return Collections.emptyList();
}...
public String getElementsAsXML(String xpath) throws Exception {
if (null == xpath) {
return null;
}...
in the beginning of every function. Is this something I should get used too or is there some coding practice I'm unaware of that can simplify my life?

Returning null means the caller must ALWAYS check the result from your method. Meaning MORE miserable null checks.
Consider using the NullObject pattern instead, where you return a valid object but having empty operations. I.e. an empty list if a collection is returned or similar.

At the public boundary of your component, you're always going to have to do data validation.
For internal methods, asserting that the values passed are correct is better.
Returning null is something that it's better to avoid if you can. Either fail then and there to indicate that there is an error upstream of you (internal case) or return an empty or default object if there is such a thing available (public case).

Yes, they're absolutely annoying. A few small things I've found that at least minimize this:
Clearly document in internal api's functions that can't return null, or under what conditions you can expect null. If you can trust your documentation, at least, this allows you to avoid null checks in certain places.
Some idioms minimize null checks - e.g.
if (string!=null && string.equals("A") --> if ("A".equals(string))
eclipse (as well as findbugs, I think, and probably many other ide's) can be set to flag redundant null checks, or missing null checks. Not perfect, but it helps.
But overall, you're correct. If my code didn't have null checks and logging statements, there wouldn't be anything there at all;)

Only check-null-return-null if that makes sense for your application. It may be that returning null simply causes problems for the client code, which doesn't expect a null back. It may be that there's no sensible return value in response to bad input, in which case use exceptions.
As to whether or not you should check the arguments, that depends on who's using that function. if it's a private function, it may be overkill to check. If it's a public API function, you absolutely should check.

In my experience, Java apps are easier to maintain if the default 'contract' for any API is that null parameter values and null results are not allowed. If a method is designed to allow a null argument or returns a null, the meaning and circumstances should be clearly specified in the Javadoc.
If an null is passed where the API does not specifically allow this, it is a bug and the best thing is to fail-fast with an NPE. (IMO, there is no need to document the possibility of an NPE ... it can be assumed.) If null is not a meaningful (documented) argument value, the practice of testing for null and returning null only serves to spread bad data and make it harder to debug your code. If your method uses the supplied null argument and that causes an NPE, so be it. If does not use the argument but it saves the value for future use, then it is worth testing for null and explicitly throwing a NPE.
I also try to avoid the (usually false) optimizations of using null to represent empty lists or empty arrays, at least at the API level.
Now there are situations where it makes sense for an API design to use nulls; e.g. in APIs where an object parameter implements some kind of plugin behavior / policy, or the null is used when an optional method parameter is not supplied. But you need to think about it and document it.

If you check for illegal values, don't hesitate to throw IllegalArgumentExceptions to notify the caller that he made an error. You can hide the boundary/illegal value checking in private methods, that increases the readability of the code, like - just taking one of your examples:
private URL extractUrl(Element element) throws Exception {
validateExactUrlParameter(element);
// the real url extraction code
}
private static validateExactUrlParameter(Element element)
throws IllegalArgumentException {
if (null == element) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Null value not allowed for exactUrl method");
}
// do some more checks here, if required
}
If you want to avoid try/catch blocks, then consider throwing unchecked exceptions (RuntimeException or custom subclasses).

Avoiding NullPointerException in Java

I use x != null to avoid NullPointerException. Is there an alternative?
if (x != null) {
// ...
}

This to me sounds like a reasonably common problem that junior to intermediate developers tend to face at some point: they either don't know or don't trust the contracts they are participating in and defensively overcheck for nulls. Additionally, when writing their own code, they tend to rely on returning nulls to indicate something thus requiring the caller to check for nulls.
To put this another way, there are two instances where null checking comes up:
Where null is a valid response in terms of the contract; and
Where it isn't a valid response.
(2) is easy. As of Java 1.7 you can use Objects.requireNonNull(foo). (If you are stuck with a previous version then assertions may be a good alternative.)
"Proper" usage of this method would be like below. The method returns the object passed into it and throws a NullPointerException if the object is null. This means that the returned value is always non-null. The method is primarily intended for validating parameters.
public Foo(Bar bar) {
this.bar = Objects.requireNonNull(bar);
}
It can also be used like an assertion though since it throws an exception if the object is null. In both uses, a message can be added which will be shown in the exception. Below is using it like an assertion and providing a message.
Objects.requireNonNull(someobject, "if someobject is null then something is wrong");
someobject.doCalc();
Generally throwing a specific exception like NullPointerException when a value is null but shouldn't be is favorable to throwing a more general exception like AssertionError. This is the approach the Java library takes; favoring NullPointerException over IllegalArgumentException when an argument is not allowed to be null.
(1) is a little harder. If you have no control over the code you're calling then you're stuck. If null is a valid response, you have to check for it.
If it's code that you do control, however (and this is often the case), then it's a different story. Avoid using nulls as a response. With methods that return collections, it's easy: return empty collections (or arrays) instead of nulls pretty much all the time.
With non-collections it might be harder. Consider this as an example: if you have these interfaces:
public interface Action {
void doSomething();
}
public interface Parser {
Action findAction(String userInput);
}
where Parser takes raw user input and finds something to do, perhaps if you're implementing a command line interface for something. Now you might make the contract that it returns null if there's no appropriate action. That leads the null checking you're talking about.
An alternative solution is to never return null and instead use the Null Object pattern:
public class MyParser implements Parser {
private static Action DO_NOTHING = new Action() {
public void doSomething() { /* do nothing */ }
};
public Action findAction(String userInput) {
// ...
if ( /* we can't find any actions */ ) {
return DO_NOTHING;
}
}
}
Compare:
Parser parser = ParserFactory.getParser();
if (parser == null) {
// now what?
// this would be an example of where null isn't (or shouldn't be) a valid response
}
Action action = parser.findAction(someInput);
if (action == null) {
// do nothing
} else {
action.doSomething();
}
to
ParserFactory.getParser().findAction(someInput).doSomething();
which is a much better design because it leads to more concise code.
That said, perhaps it is entirely appropriate for the findAction() method to throw an Exception with a meaningful error message -- especially in this case where you are relying on user input. It would be much better for the findAction method to throw an Exception than for the calling method to blow up with a simple NullPointerException with no explanation.
try {
ParserFactory.getParser().findAction(someInput).doSomething();
} catch(ActionNotFoundException anfe) {
userConsole.err(anfe.getMessage());
}
Or if you think the try/catch mechanism is too ugly, rather than Do Nothing your default action should provide feedback to the user.
public Action findAction(final String userInput) {
/* Code to return requested Action if found */
return new Action() {
public void doSomething() {
userConsole.err("Action not found: " + userInput);
}
}
}

If you use (or planning to use) a Java IDE like JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA, Eclipse or Netbeans or a tool like findbugs then you can use annotations to solve this problem.
Basically, you've got #Nullable and #NotNull.
You can use in method and parameters, like this:
#NotNull public static String helloWorld() {
return "Hello World";
}
or
#Nullable public static String helloWorld() {
return "Hello World";
}
The second example won't compile (in IntelliJ IDEA).
When you use the first helloWorld() function in another piece of code:
public static void main(String[] args)
{
String result = helloWorld();
if(result != null) {
System.out.println(result);
}
}
Now the IntelliJ IDEA compiler will tell you that the check is useless, since the helloWorld() function won't return null, ever.
Using parameter
void someMethod(#NotNull someParameter) { }
if you write something like:
someMethod(null);
This won't compile.
Last example using #Nullable
#Nullable iWantToDestroyEverything() { return null; }
Doing this
iWantToDestroyEverything().something();
And you can be sure that this won't happen. :)
It's a nice way to let the compiler check something more than it usually does and to enforce your contracts to be stronger. Unfortunately, it's not supported by all the compilers.
In IntelliJ IDEA 10.5 and on, they added support for any other #Nullable #NotNull implementations.
See blog post More flexible and configurable #Nullable/#NotNull annotations.

If null-values are not allowed
If your method is called externally, start with something like this:
public void method(Object object) {
if (object == null) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("...");
}
Then, in the rest of that method, you'll know that object is not null.
If it is an internal method (not part of an API), just document that it cannot be null, and that's it.
Example:
public String getFirst3Chars(String text) {
return text.subString(0, 3);
}
However, if your method just passes the value on, and the next method passes it on etc. it could get problematic. In that case you may want to check the argument as above.
If null is allowed
This really depends. If find that I often do something like this:
if (object == null) {
// something
} else {
// something else
}
So I branch, and do two completely different things. There is no ugly code snippet, because I really need to do two different things depending on the data. For example, should I work on the input, or should I calculate a good default value?
It's actually rare for me to use the idiom "if (object != null && ...".
It may be easier to give you examples, if you show examples of where you typically use the idiom.

Wow, I almost hate to add another answer when we have 57 different ways to recommend the NullObject pattern, but I think that some people interested in this question may like to know that there is a proposal on the table for Java 7 to add "null-safe handling"—a streamlined syntax for if-not-equal-null logic.
The example given by Alex Miller looks like this:
public String getPostcode(Person person) {
return person?.getAddress()?.getPostcode();
}
The ?. means only de-reference the left identifier if it is not null, otherwise evaluate the remainder of the expression as null. Some people, like Java Posse member Dick Wall and the voters at Devoxx really love this proposal, but there is opposition too, on the grounds that it will actually encourage more use of null as a sentinel value.
Update: An official proposal for a null-safe operator in Java 7 has been submitted under Project Coin. The syntax is a little different than the example above, but it's the same notion.
Update: The null-safe operator proposal didn't make it into Project Coin. So, you won't be seeing this syntax in Java 7.

If undefined values are not permitted:
You might configure your IDE to warn you about potential null dereferencing. E.g. in Eclipse, see Preferences > Java > Compiler > Errors/Warnings/Null analysis.
If undefined values are permitted:
If you want to define a new API where undefined values make sense, use the Option Pattern (may be familiar from functional languages). It has the following advantages:
It is stated explicitly in the API whether an input or output exists or not.
The compiler forces you to handle the "undefined" case.
Option is a monad, so there is no need for verbose null checking, just use map/foreach/getOrElse or a similar combinator to safely use the value (example).
Java 8 has a built-in Optional class (recommended); for earlier versions, there are library alternatives, for example Guava's Optional or FunctionalJava's Option. But like many functional-style patterns, using Option in Java (even 8) results in quite some boilerplate, which you can reduce using a less verbose JVM language, e.g. Scala or Xtend.
If you have to deal with an API which might return nulls, you can't do much in Java. Xtend and Groovy have the Elvis operator ?: and the null-safe dereference operator ?., but note that this returns null in case of a null reference, so it just "defers" the proper handling of null.

Only for this situation -
Not checking if a variable is null before invoking an equals method (a string compare example below):
if ( foo.equals("bar") ) {
// ...
}
will result in a NullPointerException if foo doesn't exist.
You can avoid that if you compare your Strings like this:
if ( "bar".equals(foo) ) {
// ...
}

With Java 8 comes the new java.util.Optional class that arguably solves some of the problem. One can at least say that it improves the readability of the code, and in the case of public APIs make the API's contract clearer to the client developer.
They work like that:
An optional object for a given type (Fruit) is created as the return type of a method. It can be empty or contain a Fruit object:
public static Optional<Fruit> find(String name, List<Fruit> fruits) {
for (Fruit fruit : fruits) {
if (fruit.getName().equals(name)) {
return Optional.of(fruit);
}
}
return Optional.empty();
}
Now look at this code where we search a list of Fruit (fruits) for a given Fruit instance:
Optional<Fruit> found = find("lemon", fruits);
if (found.isPresent()) {
Fruit fruit = found.get();
String name = fruit.getName();
}
You can use the map() operator to perform a computation on--or extract a value from--an optional object. orElse() lets you provide a fallback for missing values.
String nameOrNull = find("lemon", fruits)
.map(f -> f.getName())
.orElse("empty-name");
Of course, the check for null/empty value is still necessary, but at least the developer is conscious that the value might be empty and the risk of forgetting to check is limited.
In an API built from scratch using Optional whenever a return value might be empty, and returning a plain object only when it cannot be null (convention), the client code might abandon null checks on simple object return values...
Of course Optional could also be used as a method argument, perhaps a better way to indicate optional arguments than 5 or 10 overloading methods in some cases.
Optional offers other convenient methods, such as orElse that allow the use of a default value, and ifPresent that works with lambda expressions.
I invite you to read this article (my main source for writing this answer) in which the NullPointerException (and in general null pointer) problematic as well as the (partial) solution brought by Optional are well explained: Java Optional Objects.

Depending on what kind of objects you are checking you may be able to use some of the classes in the apache commons such as: apache commons lang and apache commons collections
Example:
String foo;
...
if( StringUtils.isBlank( foo ) ) {
///do something
}
or (depending on what you need to check):
String foo;
...
if( StringUtils.isEmpty( foo ) ) {
///do something
}
The StringUtils class is only one of many; there are quite a few good classes in the commons that do null safe manipulation.
Here follows an example of how you can use null vallidation in JAVA when you include apache library(commons-lang-2.4.jar)
public DOCUMENT read(String xml, ValidationEventHandler validationEventHandler) {
Validate.notNull(validationEventHandler,"ValidationHandler not Injected");
return read(new StringReader(xml), true, validationEventHandler);
}
And if you are using Spring, Spring also has the same functionality in its package, see library(spring-2.4.6.jar)
Example on how to use this static classf from spring(org.springframework.util.Assert)
Assert.notNull(validationEventHandler,"ValidationHandler not Injected");

If you consider an object should not be null (or it is a bug) use an assert.
If your method doesn't accept null params say it in the javadoc and use an assert.
You have to check for object != null only if you want to handle the case where the object may be null...
There is a proposal to add new annotations in Java7 to help with null / notnull params:
http://tech.puredanger.com/java7/#jsr308

I'm a fan of "fail fast" code. Ask yourself - are you doing something useful in the case where the parameter is null? If you don't have a clear answer for what your code should do in that case... i.e. - it should never be null in the first place, then ignore it and allow a NullPointerException to be thrown. The calling code will make just as much sense of an NPE as it would an IllegalArgumentException, but it'll be easier for the developer to debug and understand what went wrong if an NPE is thrown rather than your code attempting to execute some other unexpected contingency logic - which ultimately results in the application failing anyway.

Sometimes, you have methods that operate on its parameters that define a symmetric operation:
a.f(b); <-> b.f(a);
If you know b can never be null, you can just swap it. It is most useful for equals:
Instead of foo.equals("bar"); better do "bar".equals(foo);.

Rather than Null Object Pattern -- which has its uses -- you might consider situations where the null object is a bug.
When the exception is thrown, examine the stack trace and work through the bug.

The Google collections framework offers a good and elegant way to achieve the null check.
There is a method in a library class like this:
static <T> T checkNotNull(T e) {
if (e == null) {
throw new NullPointerException();
}
return e;
}
And the usage is (with import static):
...
void foo(int a, Person p) {
if (checkNotNull(p).getAge() > a) {
...
}
else {
...
}
}
...
Or in your example:
checkNotNull(someobject).doCalc();

Null is not a 'problem'. It is an integral part of a complete modeling tool set. Software aims to model the complexity of the world and null bears its burden. Null indicates 'No data' or 'Unknown' in Java and the like. So it is appropriate to use nulls for these purposes. I don't prefer the 'Null object' pattern; I think it rise the 'who will guard
the guardians' problem.
If you ask me what is the name of my girlfriend I'll tell you that I have no girlfriend. In the Java language I'll return null.
An alternative would be to throw meaningful exception to indicate some problem that can't be (or don't want to be) solved right there and delegate it somewhere higher in the stack to retry or report data access error to the user.
For an 'unknown question' give 'unknown answer'. (Be null-safe where this is correct from business point of view) Checking arguments for null once inside a method before usage relieves multiple callers from checking them before a call.
public Photo getPhotoOfThePerson(Person person) {
if (person == null)
return null;
// Grabbing some resources or intensive calculation
// using person object anyhow.
}
Previous leads to normal logic flow to get no photo of a non-existent girlfriend from my photo library.
getPhotoOfThePerson(me.getGirlfriend())
And it fits with new coming Java API (looking forward)
getPhotoByName(me.getGirlfriend()?.getName())
While it is rather 'normal business flow' not to find photo stored into the DB for some person, I used to use pairs like below for some other cases
public static MyEnum parseMyEnum(String value); // throws IllegalArgumentException
public static MyEnum parseMyEnumOrNull(String value);
And don't loathe to type <alt> + <shift> + <j> (generate javadoc in Eclipse) and write three additional words for you public API. This will be more than enough for all but those who don't read documentation.
/**
* #return photo or null
*/
or
/**
* #return photo, never null
*/
This is rather theoretical case and in most cases you should prefer java null safe API (in case it will be released in another 10 years), but NullPointerException is subclass of an Exception. Thus it is a form of Throwable that indicates conditions that a reasonable application might want to catch (javadoc)! To use the first most advantage of exceptions and separate error-handling code from 'regular' code (according to creators of Java) it is appropriate, as for me, to catch NullPointerException.
public Photo getGirlfriendPhoto() {
try {
return appContext.getPhotoDataSource().getPhotoByName(me.getGirlfriend().getName());
} catch (NullPointerException e) {
return null;
}
}
Questions could arise:
Q. What if getPhotoDataSource() returns null?
A. It is up to business logic. If I fail to find a photo album I'll show you no photos. What if appContext is not initialized? This method's business logic puts up with this. If the same logic should be more strict then throwing an exception it is part of the business logic and explicit check for null should be used (case 3). The new Java Null-safe API fits better here to specify selectively what implies and what does not imply to be initialized to be fail-fast in case of programmer errors.
Q. Redundant code could be executed and unnecessary resources could be grabbed.
A. It could take place if getPhotoByName() would try to open a database connection, create PreparedStatement and use the person name as an SQL parameter at last. The approach for an unknown question gives an unknown answer (case 1) works here. Before grabbing resources the method should check parameters and return 'unknown' result if needed.
Q. This approach has a performance penalty due to the try closure opening.
A. Software should be easy to understand and modify firstly. Only after this, one could think about performance, and only if needed! and where needed! (source), and many others).
PS. This approach will be as reasonable to use as the separate error-handling code from "regular" code principle is reasonable to use in some place. Consider the next example:
public SomeValue calculateSomeValueUsingSophisticatedLogic(Predicate predicate) {
try {
Result1 result1 = performSomeCalculation(predicate);
Result2 result2 = performSomeOtherCalculation(result1.getSomeProperty());
Result3 result3 = performThirdCalculation(result2.getSomeProperty());
Result4 result4 = performLastCalculation(result3.getSomeProperty());
return result4.getSomeProperty();
} catch (NullPointerException e) {
return null;
}
}
public SomeValue calculateSomeValueUsingSophisticatedLogic(Predicate predicate) {
SomeValue result = null;
if (predicate != null) {
Result1 result1 = performSomeCalculation(predicate);
if (result1 != null && result1.getSomeProperty() != null) {
Result2 result2 = performSomeOtherCalculation(result1.getSomeProperty());
if (result2 != null && result2.getSomeProperty() != null) {
Result3 result3 = performThirdCalculation(result2.getSomeProperty());
if (result3 != null && result3.getSomeProperty() != null) {
Result4 result4 = performLastCalculation(result3.getSomeProperty());
if (result4 != null) {
result = result4.getSomeProperty();
}
}
}
}
}
return result;
}
PPS. For those fast to downvote (and not so fast to read documentation) I would like to say that I've never caught a null-pointer exception (NPE) in my life. But this possibility was intentionally designed by the Java creators because NPE is a subclass of Exception. We have a precedent in Java history when ThreadDeath is an Error not because it is actually an application error, but solely because it was not intended to be caught! How much NPE fits to be an Error than ThreadDeath! But it is not.
Check for 'No data' only if business logic implies it.
public void updatePersonPhoneNumber(Long personId, String phoneNumber) {
if (personId == null)
return;
DataSource dataSource = appContext.getStuffDataSource();
Person person = dataSource.getPersonById(personId);
if (person != null) {
person.setPhoneNumber(phoneNumber);
dataSource.updatePerson(person);
} else {
Person = new Person(personId);
person.setPhoneNumber(phoneNumber);
dataSource.insertPerson(person);
}
}
and
public void updatePersonPhoneNumber(Long personId, String phoneNumber) {
if (personId == null)
return;
DataSource dataSource = appContext.getStuffDataSource();
Person person = dataSource.getPersonById(personId);
if (person == null)
throw new SomeReasonableUserException("What are you thinking about ???");
person.setPhoneNumber(phoneNumber);
dataSource.updatePerson(person);
}
If appContext or dataSource is not initialized unhandled runtime NullPointerException will kill current thread and will be processed by Thread.defaultUncaughtExceptionHandler (for you to define and use your favorite logger or other notification mechanizm). If not set, ThreadGroup#uncaughtException will print stacktrace to system err. One should monitor application error log and open Jira issue for each unhandled exception which in fact is application error. Programmer should fix bug somewhere in initialization stuff.

Java 7 has a new java.util.Objects utility class on which there is a requireNonNull() method. All this does is throw a NullPointerException if its argument is null, but it cleans up the code a bit. Example:
Objects.requireNonNull(someObject);
someObject.doCalc();
The method is most useful for checking just before an assignment in a constructor, where each use of it can save three lines of code:
Parent(Child child) {
if (child == null) {
throw new NullPointerException("child");
}
this.child = child;
}
becomes
Parent(Child child) {
this.child = Objects.requireNonNull(child, "child");
}

Ultimately, the only way to completely solve this problem is by using a different programming language:
In Objective-C, you can do the equivalent of invoking a method on nil, and absolutely nothing will happen. This makes most null checks unnecessary, but it can make errors much harder to diagnose.
In Nice, a Java-derived language, there are two versions of all types: a potentially-null version and a not-null version. You can only invoke methods on not-null types. Potentially-null types can be converted to not-null types through explicit checking for null. This makes it much easier to know where null checks are necessary and where they aren't.

Common "problem" in Java indeed.
First, my thoughts on this:
I consider that it is bad to "eat" something when NULL was passed where NULL isn't a valid value. If you're not exiting the method with some sort of error then it means nothing went wrong in your method which is not true. Then you probably return null in this case, and in the receiving method you again check for null, and it never ends, and you end up with "if != null", etc..
So, IMHO, null must be a critical error which prevents further execution (that is, where null is not a valid value).
The way I solve this problem is this:
First, I follow this convention:
All public methods / API always check its arguments for null
All private methods do not check for null since they are controlled methods (just let die with nullpointer exception in case it wasn't handled above)
The only other methods which do not check for null are utility methods. They are public, but if you call them for some reason, you know what parameters you pass. This is like trying to boil water in the kettle without providing water...
And finally, in the code, the first line of the public method goes like this:
ValidationUtils.getNullValidator().addParam(plans, "plans").addParam(persons, "persons").validate();
Note that addParam() returns self, so that you can add more parameters to check.
Method validate() will throw checked ValidationException if any of the parameters is null (checked or unchecked is more a design/taste issue, but my ValidationException is checked).
void validate() throws ValidationException;
The message will contain the following text if, for example, "plans" is null:
"Illegal argument value null is encountered for parameter [plans]"
As you can see, the second value in the addParam() method (string) is needed for the user message, because you cannot easily detect passed-in variable name, even with reflection (not subject of this post anyway...).
And yes, we know that beyond this line we will no longer encounter a null value so we just safely invoke methods on those objects.
This way, the code is clean, easy maintainable and readable.

Asking that question points out that you may be interested in error handling strategies. How and where to handle errors is a pervasive architectural question. There are several ways to do this.
My favorite: allow the Exceptions to ripple through - catch them at the 'main loop' or in some other function with the appropriate responsibilities. Checking for error conditions and handling them appropriately can be seen as a specialized responsibility.
Sure do have a look at Aspect Oriented Programming, too - they have neat ways to insert if( o == null ) handleNull() into your bytecode.

In addition to using assert you can use the following:
if (someobject == null) {
// Handle null here then move on.
}
This is slightly better than:
if (someobject != null) {
.....
.....
.....
}

Just don't ever use null. Don't allow it.
In my classes, most fields and local variables have non-null default values, and I add contract statements (always-on asserts) everywhere in the code to make sure this is being enforced (since it's more succinct, and more expressive than letting it come up as an NPE and then having to resolve the line number, etc.).
Once I adopted this practice, I noticed that the problems seemed to fix themselves. You'd catch things much earlier in the development process just by accident and realize you had a weak spot.. and more importantly.. it helps encapsulate different modules' concerns, different modules can 'trust' each other, and no more littering the code with if = null else constructs!
This is defensive programming and results in much cleaner code in the long run. Always sanitize the data, e.g. here by enforcing rigid standards, and the problems go away.
class C {
private final MyType mustBeSet;
public C(MyType mything) {
mustBeSet=Contract.notNull(mything);
}
private String name = "<unknown>";
public void setName(String s) {
name = Contract.notNull(s);
}
}
class Contract {
public static <T> T notNull(T t) { if (t == null) { throw new ContractException("argument must be non-null"); return t; }
}
The contracts are like mini-unit tests which are always running, even in production, and when things fail, you know why, rather than a random NPE you have to somehow figure out.

Guava, a very useful core library by Google, has a nice and useful API to avoid nulls. I find UsingAndAvoidingNullExplained very helpful.
As explained in the wiki:
Optional<T> is a way of replacing a nullable T reference with a
non-null value. An Optional may either contain a non-null T reference
(in which case we say the reference is "present"), or it may contain
nothing (in which case we say the reference is "absent"). It is never
said to "contain null."
Usage:
Optional<Integer> possible = Optional.of(5);
possible.isPresent(); // returns true
possible.get(); // returns 5

This is a very common problem for every Java developer. So there is official support in Java 8 to address these issues without cluttered code.
Java 8 has introduced java.util.Optional<T>. It is a container that may or may not hold a non-null value. Java 8 has given a safer way to handle an object whose value may be null in some of the cases. It is inspired from the ideas of Haskell and Scala.
In a nutshell, the Optional class includes methods to explicitly deal with the cases where a value is present or absent. However, the advantage compared to null references is that the Optional<T> class forces you to think about the case when the value is not present. As a consequence, you can prevent unintended null pointer exceptions.
In above example we have a home service factory that returns a handle to multiple appliances available in the home. But these services may or may not be available/functional; it means it may result in a NullPointerException. Instead of adding a null if condition before using any service, let's wrap it in to Optional<Service>.
WRAPPING TO OPTION<T>
Let's consider a method to get a reference of a service from a factory. Instead of returning the service reference, wrap it with Optional. It lets the API user know that the returned service may or may not available/functional, use defensively
public Optional<Service> getRefrigertorControl() {
Service s = new RefrigeratorService();
//...
return Optional.ofNullable(s);
}
As you see Optional.ofNullable() provides an easy way to get the reference wrapped. There are another ways to get the reference of Optional, either Optional.empty() & Optional.of(). One for returning an empty object instead of retuning null and the other to wrap a non-nullable object, respectively.
SO HOW EXACTLY IT HELPS TO AVOID A NULL CHECK?
Once you have wrapped a reference object, Optional provides many useful methods to invoke methods on a wrapped reference without NPE.
Optional ref = homeServices.getRefrigertorControl();
ref.ifPresent(HomeServices::switchItOn);
Optional.ifPresent invokes the given Consumer with a reference if it is a non-null value. Otherwise, it does nothing.
#FunctionalInterface
public interface Consumer<T>
Represents an operation that accepts a single input argument and returns no result. Unlike most other functional interfaces, Consumer is expected to operate via side-effects.
It is so clean and easy to understand. In the above code example, HomeService.switchOn(Service) gets invoked if the Optional holding reference is non-null.
We use the ternary operator very often for checking null condition and return an alternative value or default value. Optional provides another way to handle the same condition without checking null. Optional.orElse(defaultObj) returns defaultObj if the Optional has a null value. Let's use this in our sample code:
public static Optional<HomeServices> get() {
service = Optional.of(service.orElse(new HomeServices()));
return service;
}
Now HomeServices.get() does same thing, but in a better way. It checks whether the service is already initialized of not. If it is then return the same or create a new New service. Optional<T>.orElse(T) helps to return a default value.
Finally, here is our NPE as well as null check-free code:
import java.util.Optional;
public class HomeServices {
private static final int NOW = 0;
private static Optional<HomeServices> service;
public static Optional<HomeServices> get() {
service = Optional.of(service.orElse(new HomeServices()));
return service;
}
public Optional<Service> getRefrigertorControl() {
Service s = new RefrigeratorService();
//...
return Optional.ofNullable(s);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
/* Get Home Services handle */
Optional<HomeServices> homeServices = HomeServices.get();
if(homeServices != null) {
Optional<Service> refrigertorControl = homeServices.get().getRefrigertorControl();
refrigertorControl.ifPresent(HomeServices::switchItOn);
}
}
public static void switchItOn(Service s){
//...
}
}
The complete post is NPE as well as Null check-free code … Really?.

I like articles from Nat Pryce. Here are the links:
Avoiding Nulls with Polymorphic Dispatch
Avoiding Nulls with "Tell, Don't Ask" Style
In the articles there is also a link to a Git repository for a Java Maybe Type which I find interesting, but I don't think it alone could decrease the
checking code bloat. After doing some research on the Internet, I think != null code bloat could be decreased mainly by careful design.

I've tried the NullObjectPattern but for me is not always the best way to go. There are sometimes when a "no action" is not appropiate.
NullPointerException is a Runtime exception that means it's developers fault and with enough experience it tells you exactly where is the error.
Now to the answer:
Try to make all your attributes and its accessors as private as possible or avoid to expose them to the clients at all. You can have the argument values in the constructor of course, but by reducing the scope you don't let the client class pass an invalid value. If you need to modify the values, you can always create a new object. You check the values in the constructor only once and in the rest of the methods you can be almost sure that the values are not null.
Of course, experience is the better way to understand and apply this suggestion.
Byte!

Probably the best alternative for Java 8 or newer is to use the Optional class.
Optional stringToUse = Optional.of("optional is there");
stringToUse.ifPresent(System.out::println);
This is especially handy for long chains of possible null values. Example:
Optional<Integer> i = Optional.ofNullable(wsObject.getFoo())
.map(f -> f.getBar())
.map(b -> b.getBaz())
.map(b -> b.getInt());
Example on how to throw exception on null:
Optional optionalCarNull = Optional.ofNullable(someNull);
optionalCarNull.orElseThrow(IllegalStateException::new);
Java 7 introduced the Objects.requireNonNull method which can be handy when something should be checked for non-nullness. Example:
String lowerVal = Objects.requireNonNull(someVar, "input cannot be null or empty").toLowerCase();

May I answer it more generally!
We usually face this issue when the methods get the parameters in the way we not expected (bad method call is programmer's fault). For example: you expect to get an object, instead you get a null. You expect to get an String with at least one character, instead you get an empty String ...
So there is no difference between:
if(object == null){
//you called my method badly!
}
or
if(str.length() == 0){
//you called my method badly again!
}
They both want to make sure that we received valid parameters, before we do any other functions.
As mentioned in some other answers, to avoid above problems you can follow the Design by contract pattern. Please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_by_contract.
To implement this pattern in java, you can use core java annotations like javax.annotation.NotNull or use more sophisticated libraries like Hibernate Validator.
Just a sample:
getCustomerAccounts(#NotEmpty String customerId,#Size(min = 1) String accountType)
Now you can safely develop the core function of your method without needing to check input parameters, they guard your methods from unexpected parameters.
You can go a step further and make sure that only valid pojos could be created in your application. (sample from hibernate validator site)
public class Car {
#NotNull
private String manufacturer;
#NotNull
#Size(min = 2, max = 14)
private String licensePlate;
#Min(2)
private int seatCount;
// ...
}

I highly disregard answers that suggest using the null objects in every situation. This pattern may break the contract and bury problems deeper and deeper instead of solving them, not mentioning that used inappropriately will create another pile of boilerplate code that will require future maintenance.
In reality if something returned from a method can be null and the calling code has to make decision upon that, there should an earlier call that ensures the state.
Also keep in mind, that null object pattern will be memory hungry if used without care. For this - the instance of a NullObject should be shared between owners, and not be an unigue instance for each of these.
Also I would not recommend using this pattern where the type is meant to be a primitive type representation - like mathematical entities, that are not scalars: vectors, matrices, complex numbers and POD(Plain Old Data) objects, which are meant to hold state in form of Java built-in types. In the latter case you would end up calling getter methods with arbitrary results. For example what should a NullPerson.getName() method return?
It's worth considering such cases in order to avoid absurd results.

Never initialise variables to null.
If (1) is not possible, initialise all collections and arrays to empty collections/arrays.
Doing this in your own code and you can avoid != null checks.
Most of the time null checks seem to guard loops over collections or arrays, so just initialise them empty, you won't need any null checks.
// Bad
ArrayList<String> lemmings;
String[] names;
void checkLemmings() {
if (lemmings != null) for(lemming: lemmings) {
// do something
}
}
// Good
ArrayList<String> lemmings = new ArrayList<String>();
String[] names = {};
void checkLemmings() {
for(lemming: lemmings) {
// do something
}
}
There is a tiny overhead in this, but it's worth it for cleaner code and less NullPointerExceptions.

This is the most common error occurred for most of the developers.
We have number of ways to handle this.
Approach 1:
org.apache.commons.lang.Validate //using apache framework
notNull(Object object, String message)
Approach 2:
if(someObject!=null){ // simply checking against null
}
Approach 3:
#isNull #Nullable // using annotation based validation
Approach 4:
// by writing static method and calling it across whereever we needed to check the validation
static <T> T isNull(someObject e){
if(e == null){
throw new NullPointerException();
}
return e;
}

Java 8 has introduced a new class Optional in java.util package.
Advantages of Java 8 Optional:
1.) Null checks are not required.
2.) No more NullPointerException at run-time.
3.) We can develop clean and neat APIs.
Optional - A container object which may or may not contain a non-null value. If a value is present, isPresent() will return true and get() will return the value.
For more details find here oracle docs :-
https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/util/Optional.html