There are good enough discussion in Stackoverflow [1], [2] and [3]. You could return null, empty object or throw exception in the case of data not available.
It's also depends on the type of the Object you are supposed to return, if it's a ArrayList/Map, then returning empty ArrayList/Map is better than returning null, but, in case of Model object, I think, returning null is better than retuning a mock object of that class. [1] : http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/120355/is-it-better-to-return-null-or-empty-values-from-functions-methods-where-the-ret [2] : http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1626597/should-functions-return-null-or-an-empty-object [3] : http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/228287/returning-null-or-a-empty-value-throw-exception On Tue, Jul 12, 2016 at 12:03 PM, Jayanga Kaushalya <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi, > > In my opinion, returning an empty object is far better. It will reduce > unnecessary null checks and will stop the code from going on different > paths. And code quality wise also I think returning empty is cleaner. > For example: > > *List list = getList();* > > *for (Item item : list) {// Do logic.* > *// This will not execute if the list is empty.* > *}* > > Is much cleaner than > > *List list = getList();* > *if (list == null) {* > *// Handle the logic.* > *// Now this is a different code path.* > *}* > > Thanks! > > *Jayanga Kaushalya* > Software Engineer > Mobile: +94777860160 > WSO2 Inc. | http://wso2.com > lean.enterprise.middleware > > On Tue, Jul 12, 2016 at 10:05 AM, Sabra Ossen <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Hi Chamila, >> >> I checked from findbugs and it didn't return an error. Is returning an >> empty object a practice followed in WSO2? >> >> On Tue, Jul 12, 2016 at 9:25 AM, Chamila Wijayarathna < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Hi Sabra, >>> >>> AFAIK when we return a null from a method, find bugs show it as an error >>> (please check this) and to fix this we use empty objects. So I think the >>> returning null is not something we should do. >>> >>> Thank You! >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> *Sabra Ossen* >> *Software Engineer* >> Email: [email protected] >> Mobile: +94 767 837356 >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Dev mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://wso2.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dev >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > Dev mailing list > [email protected] > http://wso2.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dev > > -- Thanks Abimaran Kugathasan Senior Software Engineer Email : [email protected] Mobile : +94 773922820 <http://stackoverflow.com/users/515034> <http://lk.linkedin.com/in/abimaran> <http://www.lkabimaran.blogspot.com/> <https://github.com/abimarank> <https://twitter.com/abimaran>
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