Scala Functional Programming Patterns

Null Objects – singletons in another garb

One popular form in which singletons are used is the Null Object pattern. Let's see what a Null Object is.

Java gives us the null reference to indicate a missing value. We are not supposed to call a method on it as there is no object. If, erroneously, we do, we are greeted with a Null Pointer Exception (NPE). When we design methods to return nulls, the client code that calls the method needs to check assiduously. This is what a typical null check-based Java code looks like:

       Point p = makeAPoint(); // a method that returns null in some cases
       if (p != null) { // the dreaded null check – onus is on us...
            // We are on sure grounds
       }

The problem is that the onus term is on us to check for a reference being null. ...