I agree that null pointers are a bad idea and I try to avoid them in my code as often as possible. I go out of my way to avoid returning null to indicate an err

I agree that null pointers are a bad idea and I try to avoid them in my code as often as possible. I go out of my way to avoid returning null to indicate an error condition. I use value types instead of reference types whenever possible, since a value type can't be null. Instead of using null to indicate an error condition, I use a second variable or throw an exception. Just because your programming language supports null pointers, doesn't mean you need to use them. You can avoid the pitfalls discussed by Tony Hoare by simply refraining to use them. You will still need to handle null pointers coming into your code from outside, like from libraries, but your own code does not need to generate them.