Is it OK to return null?

Is it OK to return null?

Returning null Creates More Work An ideal function, like an assistant cook, will encapsulate work and produce something useful. A function that returns a null reference achieves neither goal. Returning null is like throwing a time bomb into the software. Other code must a guard against null with if and else statements.

Can you return null in C?

There is no requirement to return any particular value from a function, the interpretation of the value is entirely up to the programmer. It is not only legal to return NULL, i.e. void* in C/C++, but great! Very useful to indicate the absence or invalidity of the referenced object.

Can collections be null?

18 Answers. Empty collection. Always. It is considered a best practice to NEVER return null when returning a collection or enumerable.

What happens if a method returns null?

When null is returned from a method, it usually means that the method was not able to create a meaningful result. For example the method, that reads data from database was not able to find the specified object or some error occurred during the method run.

What should I return instead of null?

you can usually simply return an empty object instead of null , and it will work fine, without special handling. In these cases, there’s usually no need for the caller to explicitly handle the empty case.

What is return null?

Returning null is usually the best idea if you intend to indicate that no data is available. An empty object implies data has been returned, whereas returning null clearly indicates that nothing has been returned.

How do I return a null object?

In Java, a null value can be assigned to an object reference of any type to indicate that it points to nothing. The compiler assigns null to any uninitialized static and instance members of reference type. In the absence of a constructor, the getArticles() and getName() methods will return a null reference.

What should be return instead of NULL?

you can usually simply return an empty object instead of null , and it will work fine, without special handling. In these cases, there’s usually no need for the caller to explicitly handle the empty case. In those cases, you should return an Optional .

What does an empty list Return?

emptyList() returns an immutable list, i.e., a list to which you cannot add elements if you want to perform any operation on your list, then create new instance of list and return it.

What to do instead of returning null?

Another way to avoid returning null is to use a Null object design pattern. A null object is an object without behavior like a stub that a developer can return to the caller instead of returning null value. The caller doesn’t need to check the order for null value because a real but empty Order object is returned.

Can findAll return null?

findAll. Returns all entities matching the given Specification . Parameters: spec – can be null.