Krdytkyu

I have a question regarding Java 8's Optional, the purpose of Optional is to tackle NullPointerException exception.

The question is, what is the reason for having both types to let us choose:

Optional.of(T value)     <-----non-null value, null value will throw NPE

Optional.ofNullable(T value)   <----- nullable value

Because what I expect is, when I use

Optional.of(nullValue);

It won't throw NullPointerException

Enhanced my question after some replies:

Why would people opt for Optional instead of normal if-else method for null checking?

The javadoc of Optional.of reads that explicitly :

@throws NullPointerException if value is null

and that is where the requirement of handling the cases as expected by you comes into picture with the use of Optional.ofNullable which is a small block of code as :

public static <T> Optional<T> ofNullable(T value) {

    return value == null ? empty() : of(value); // 'Optional.of'

}

That said, the decision of choosing one over the other would still reside with the application design as if your value could possibly be null or not.

On your expectation part, that was not what the Optional was actually intended for. The API note clarifies this further (formatting mine):

Optional is primarily intended for use as a method return type where
there is a clear need to represent "no result," and where using
null is likely to cause error. A variable whose type is Optional should never itself be null; it should always point to an Optional instance.

the purpose of Optional is to tackle NullPointerException exception

Yes, it is, but at usage time not at creation.

So when you receive an Optional from a method then you can avoid NPE by using Optional.ifPresent, Optional.orElse,Optional.orElseGet and Optional.orElseThrow methods.

But this is not the case when you're creating an Optional. Since it's your own method you have to know whether the object is nullable or not.

The main point of Optional is to provide a means for a function returning a value to indicate the absence of a return value. See this discussion. This allows the caller to continue a chain of fluent method calls.

Stuart Marks

Please read this post for more detailed explanation.

I think its quite simple and Clear with Javadoc:

Optional.of(T value) is used when you are sure that there is never a null value and incase null value occurs than program throws NullPointerException and consider as bug.

Optional.ofNullable(T value) is used when you know that there can be a null value and in case of it your program should behave normally.

--Why would people opt for Optional instead of normal if-else method for null checking?---

Java 8 has introduced a new class Optional in java.util package. It is used to represent a value is present or absent. The main advantage of this new construct is that No more too many null checks and NullPointerException. It avoids any runtime NullPointerExceptions and supports us in developing clean and neat Java APIs or Applications. Like Collections and arrays, it is also a Container to hold at most one value.

Source:https://www.mkyong.com/java8/java-8-optional-in-depth/