I think that code example depends on the type system. In elm, the compiler forces you to handle both cases if you return a Maybe. In Java everything can be null

I think that code example depends on the type system. In elm, the compiler forces you to handle both cases if you return a Maybe. In Java everything can be null and blow up which is bad. In Kotlin you have to handle the possible null, but it's a bit brittle when calling into Java code. But yeah, better to fail fast. That's why I want tools to catch stuff as I write the code, not when I run it, as I cannot run all cases so then it won't hit until prod.