I agree, but I think the benefit of things like Optional is a bit different: it’s not really about eliminating NPE-type bugs, but limiting the scope in which th

I agree, but I think the benefit of things like Optional is a bit different: it’s not really about eliminating NPE-type bugs, but limiting the scope in which they can occur. If you use them consistently, you only have to check the behavior of places where the optional is unwrapped, and you push those places upwards towards the entry-point rather than weaving null-checks into your business logic. All that being said, the complaints about NPEs have always felt to me like focus on symptoms (null references) rather than the underlying causes (badly-designed application code)