Java Optional — A Complete Guide

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In this article, I will explain everything about Java Optional in a concise manner with examples.

Part 1 — Java Optional Basics

Let’s take a look at the code below to see why Java’s Optional class was introduced in JDK 8.

public class Users {

  public static User getUser(String uid) {
      User user = null;
      
      // logic to set user

      return user;
  }

}

// API Caller 
User user = Users.getUser(uid);

// May throw NullPointerException
String name = user.name();

In the code, you see that there is a Users class (used as a User Factory class) which has a method to return a User object based on some logic (maybe fetching from the Database). The problem here is that, it’s perfectly possible for the user object to be null.

A standard way to use such a method is to call it and check if the user is null. If not null, then proceed to handle the user. If the null check was not in place (as in the code above), your application would throw a Null Pointer Exception. So, here’s a question ?

How can the programmer who…