4 ms·

I don't write Java, but support an application written in Java that gets null pointer issues and aborts all the time. It's also annoying that there is precious

I don't write Java, but support an application written in Java that gets null pointer issues and aborts all the time. It's also annoying that there is precious little information for me to go on.

chapium 8y ago
It generally means that an object was supposed contain data, but it doesnt. This typically could mean the network disconnected or a file was not read. You could be missing .jar files that contain the appropriate classes. It can also be a programmer mistake. Its not a very clear error, but you can narrow down the issue to a few things even when doing application support.
- 4thaccount 8y ago
  In our case it is reading from an antiquated non relational database and usually one of the millions of fields that were being parsed had a "null" value. It is easy to fix, but only if I know which ones the app needs.
  - chapium 8y ago
    sounds rough
RoadieRoller 8y ago
Blame it on the poorly written code, not Java.
deepsun 8y ago
How long do you support the application? I believe that if you support it long enough, it's your application now, so no one else is to blame. How long is long enough? I'd say 1k-2k of lines of code per month of supporting it should be pretty reasonable. So if you supported a project of 10k lines for a year -- it's yours now, stop blaming original authors. Good engineer would start improving it little-by-little, or convince manager that they need to spend some time on refactoring some piece of it. That differentiates a coder from an engineer.
- hnthroaway1926 8y ago
  You are assuming that they have access to the original source code and an ability to edit that source as well, which may not be the case. If it were me and I didn't have the original source I would decompile it out of curiosity.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - 4thaccount 8y ago
    Bingo....this one I do not have the source for. It is a vendor app. Sadly, I could rewrite everything it does in a fraction of the code and it would be more maintainable and cheaper, but it would never be approved.

I don't write Java, but support an application written in Java that gets null pointer issues and aborts all the time. It's also annoying that there is precious little information for me to go on.

chapium 8y ago

It generally means that an object was supposed contain data, but it doesnt. This typically could mean the network disconnected or a file was not read. You could be missing .jar files that contain the appropriate classes. It can also be a programmer mistake. Its not a very clear error, but you can narrow down the issue to a few things even when doing application support.

4thaccount 8y ago
In our case it is reading from an antiquated non relational database and usually one of the millions of fields that were being parsed had a "null" value. It is easy to fix, but only if I know which ones the app needs.
- chapium 8y ago
  sounds rough

RoadieRoller 8y ago

Blame it on the poorly written code, not Java.

deepsun 8y ago

How long do you support the application? I believe that if you support it long enough, it's your application now, so no one else is to blame. How long is long enough? I'd say 1k-2k of lines of code per month of supporting it should be pretty reasonable. So if you supported a project of 10k lines for a year -- it's yours now, stop blaming original authors. Good engineer would start improving it little-by-little, or convince manager that they need to spend some time on refactoring some piece of it. That differentiates a coder from an engineer.

hnthroaway1926 8y ago
You are assuming that they have access to the original source code and an ability to edit that source as well, which may not be the case. If it were me and I didn't have the original source I would decompile it out of curiosity.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- 4thaccount 8y ago
  Bingo....this one I do not have the source for. It is a vendor app. Sadly, I could rewrite everything it does in a fraction of the code and it would be more maintainable and cheaper, but it would never be approved.