You don't. That's the point. Look at how C++ references (not pointers) work. You can't declare one without giving it a valid object to reference. The only reas

You don't. That's the point. Look at how C++ references (not pointers) work. You can't declare one without giving it a valid object to reference. The only reason why you may need null is to check whether a reference is null. You remove this need by forbidding it in well defined programs.