I'm dealing with an old code base in which methods tend to process exceptions by catching, logging and returning a null. The dev that wrote this code treated ex

I'm dealing with an old code base in which methods tend to process exceptions by catching, logging and returning a null. The dev that wrote this code treated exceptions more like a rare-occurring annoyance rather than a signal for error, thus none of the calling methods had null check branching implemented. The amount of NPEs I had to fix in the past year is astounding. Optional to me is a large leap forward. That being said, I also don't like its verbosity and wish for it to be improved somehow.