I'd argue that the solution to the problem is to make sure null can't happen, ever. It's way too much boilerplate in Java, but par for the course in, say, Scala

I'd argue that the solution to the problem is to make sure null can't happen, ever. It's way too much boilerplate in Java, but par for the course in, say, Scala. If it can really be null, and it makes sense for it to happen, wrap it in an Option.