In older C and C++ code by convention the meaning of the pointer object was what we would now call Option(Pointer) : it can either be a valid pointer or can be

In older C and C++ code by convention the meaning of the pointer object was what we would now call Option(Pointer) : it can either be a valid pointer or can be null. Both are correct, and correct code should handle both cases. The mistake was in not providing any language features to enforce or support that convention, or to communicate when the pointer is guaranteed to be valid vs when the null option needs to be handled. Having an optional type as the language default is fine and sensible but could really have used aome language support to make it less of a footgun.