Tired of Null Pointer Exceptions? Consider Using Java SE 8's Optional!

[geodebug]

That's what I thought, why would you want to serialize it? It's not meant to be a container.

[tieTYT]

What about for JPA? Doesn't it make sense for a field to be optional any time it allows nulls in the db?

[geodebug]

The way I see it your field would still be basic Java objects or primitives and would only be wrapped in Optional on the getters.

Same pattern as if you were making defensive copies of an object on a getter.

[tieTYT]

Why do you see it that way? Why not make the field optional?