Backend>Questions

Java equals() selection

sona11

sona11

Java equals() selection

In Java, if I try to do.equals() on a null string, a null pointer error is issued. I’m wondering whether I can perform the following if I’m attempting to compare if a string is equal to a constant string:
MY CONSTANT STRING.equals(aStringVariable)
I’m sure it’ll work, but is this simply extremely bad code?
This is a common Java idiom known colloquially as a Yoda condition. Personally, I prefer to handle the null situation directly, but the Yoda method is widely used, and any competent Java programmer should quickly grasp what is going on. How should I proceed?

3 comments
/java
4 1150 3

Most Liked

faust

faust

I think that it is important to discuss with your team how the majority feels about this kind of situation and create a guideline for the project.

Anyway, I personally prefer to use Enums instead of this kind of constant.

1
Post #3
finner

finner

Hi @sona11,
If you are using Java8 (or ablove) you can use Optional - for example:

boolean eq = Optional.ofNullable(aStringVariable)
            .map(s -> s.equals(MY_CONSTANT_STRING))
            .orElse(false);

And when the aStringValue is null there will no NullPointerException

I hope I understood the question correctly, does that help?

1
Post #4
sona11

sona11

Thanks you and yes it does help.

1
Post #5

Where Next?

View thread on forum
java
Home Backend>Questions
/java
4 1150 3
Last post

Popular Backend topics Top

dimitarvp
Backend>Questions

Give me your quickest Kubernetes guides, please
As a part of my new job I’ll have to learn to manage a local k8s cluster. The tools used are microk8s, tilt and helm. I’ll appreciate an...
#kubernetes
25 1166 10
New
wolf4earth
Backend>Questions

AWS: Best practices implementing fan-out with SNS and SQS
At work we plan to replace a totally overkill Kafka instance with a combination of SNS and SQS. I don’t want to get into a discussion on ...
#aws#aws-sns#aws-sqs#terraform
3 1027 0
New
dimitarvp
Backend>Questions

Open datasets that are in SQLite format or convertible to it?
Hey everyone, I resumed work on my Elixir <=> SQLite library (which uses a Rust NIF underneath) and I am in a need of small and we...
/elixir#sqlite
11 1344 6
New
jaimeiniesta
Backend>Questions

Screenshots as a service
I maintain a project that lists hundreds of thousands of web pages, and I’d like to show a screenshot for each web page. There are alread...
#screenshots
2 1202 1
New
TwistingTwists
Backend>Questions

Novice developer hoping to learn Elixir - any tips?
Hello Folks, I am a novice developer from India. Intending to learn Elixir and web apps (phoenix framework). What are things that I MUS...
/elixir#beginner#suggestion
53 1792 14
New
Ookma-Kyi
Backend>Questions

Any Elixir tutorials?
I am learning Elixir at the moment but am finding it difficult to learn. The issue is there aren’t any good tutorial sites out there when...
/elixir
22 1740 6
New
Fl4m3Ph03n1x
Backend>Questions

Is there a way to have 2 icons when using elixir-desktop?
Background I have a personal project that is an elixir desktop application for PC Windows. It works pretty well, but now I want to give i...
/elixir#desktop
2 1082 1
New
sona11
Backend>Questions

isReachable in Java throws an IOException
If isReachable throws an IOException in Java, what is the right step to do and why? The application, I believe, should halt the process ...
/java
1 893 0
New
harwind
Backend>Questions

Declaring Strings In C
In C, how they are different? char str[] = "xyz"; // statement //and char str[4] = "xyz"; // statement The first, i...
/c
1 905 0
New
harwind
Backend>Questions

Selection Sort Program In C
I received this error for a binary search programme in C, despite the fact that it requested for inputs and produced the right output. Th...
/c
1 881 0
New

Other popular topics Top

Exadra37
General Dev>Hardware

What monitor(s) do you have for programming?
Please tell us what is your preferred monitor setup for programming(not gaming) and why you have chosen it. Does your monitor have eye p...
#monitors#coding#programming#development
227 11362 88
New
DevotionGeo
Backend>Chat

Would you use Erlang now when there is Elixir?
Why, if your answer is yes?
/elixir/erlang
167 4955 52
New
AstonJ
General Dev>Hardware

Custom keyboard keycaps
There’s a whole world of custom keycaps out there that I didn’t know existed! Check out all of our Keycaps threads here: https://forum....
#hardware/keyboards#keycaps#mechanical-keyboards
15 11086 19
New
AstonJ
General Dev>Dev Chat

How fast do you type? Check your WPM here!
Do the test and post your score :nerd_face: :keyboard: If possible, please add info such as the keyboard you’re using, the layout (Qw...
typing-speed-test.aoeu.eu
/keyboards
82 7682 31
New
DevotionGeo
General Dev>Dev Chat

The V Programming Language
The V Programming Language Simple language for building maintainable programs V is already mentioned couple of times in the forum, but I...
#programminguages/v
21 13874 7
New
Margaret
General Dev>Dev Chat

PragProg’s Medium Posts
Hello everyone! This thread is to tell you about what authors from The Pragmatic Bookshelf are writing on Medium.
#pragprog#blog-post
1147 29994 760
New
PragmaticBookshelf
Community>In The Spotlight

Spotlight: Rebecca Skinner (Author) Interview and AMA!
Author Spotlight Rebecca Skinner @RebeccaSkinner Welcome to our latest author spotlight, where we sit down with Rebecca Skinner, auth...
#author-spotlight/haskell/book-effective-haskell
106 11719 28
New
AstonJ
macOS>Chat

How to block any website on Mac using Little Snitch
If you want a quick and easy way to block any website on your Mac using Little Snitch simply… File > New Rule: And select Deny, O...
#macos#how-to#littlesnitch
5 11227 3
New
PragmaticBookshelf
Community>In The Spotlight

Spotlight: Bruce Tate (Author) Interview and AMA!
Author Spotlight: Bruce Tate @redrapids Programming languages always emerge out of need, and if that’s not always true, they’re defin...
/elixir/ruby/phoenix/book-seven-more-languages-in-seven-weeks/book-seven-languages-in-seven-weeks#liveview/book-programming-phoenix-liveview
54 5678 23
New
AstonJ
AI>In The News

DeepSeek (671B) running on a cluster of 8 Mac Mini Pros with 64GB RAM each
This is cool! DEEPSEEK-V3 ON M4 MAC: BLAZING FAST INFERENCE ON APPLE SILICON We just witnessed something incredible: the largest open-s...
#ai#macs/deepseek
0 6695 1
New
Back to top

Sponsor Spotlight

WyewWorks

Enabling companies to succeed by building software people love.

Latest in Java

Java Portal ❯

Backend>Questions

Backend Questions ❯

Latest on Devtalk

Devtalk ❯

We ❤️ helpful members!

We reward our most helpful members via our MOTM scheme - by giving away a whopping 25 books per year!

Member of the Month

Devtalk Sponsors

Pragmatic Bookshelf

Practical resources that improve the lives of professional developers.

Erlang Solutions

We build trusted fault-tolerant systems that scale to billions of users.

Honeybadger

Real-time error tracking, performance insights, and observability for devs.

EEF

Supporting innovation across the BEAM ecosystem.

coders51

We build reliable cloud platforms for business-critical systems.

Manning Publications

Develop your skills with books, videos, and courses.

AppSignal

Catch errors, track performance, monitor hosts and more.

WyeWorks

Enabling companies to succeed by building software people love.

Pragmatic Studio

Courses that move you from confusion to "Aha, now I get it!"

Linux New Media

Publishing Linux Magazine, ADMIN, and MakerSpace for 25+ years.

View all our sponsors ❯

Categories:

Sub Categories:

Popular Portals

Devtalk Sponsors

Pragmatic Bookshelf

Practical resources that improve the lives of professional developers.

Erlang Solutions

We build trusted fault-tolerant systems that scale to billions of users.

Honeybadger

Real-time error tracking, performance insights, and observability for devs.

EEF

Supporting innovation across the BEAM ecosystem.

coders51

We build reliable cloud platforms for business-critical systems.

Manning Publications

Develop your skills with books, videos, and courses.

AppSignal

Catch errors, track performance, monitor hosts and more.

WyeWorks

Enabling companies to succeed by building software people love.

Pragmatic Studio

Courses that move you from confusion to "Aha, now I get it!"

Linux New Media

Publishing Linux Magazine, ADMIN, and MakerSpace for 25+ years.

View all our sponsors ❯

We're in Beta

About us Mission Statement See our Roadmap