> Nulls are not a mistake. They are a trade-off as so many other things in language design. A bad trade-off – i.e., one where the downsides outweigh the upside

> Nulls are not a mistake. They are a trade-off as so many other things in language design. A bad trade-off – i.e., one where the downsides outweigh the upsides – is a mistake. Nulls are not a necessity: Several languages demonstrate that there are better alternatives.