You can also do it in a one-liner in C++ if you're using shared pointers:

    if(auto obj = my_weak_ptr.lock())
    {
        do_stuff(obj);
    }

> Having to pay for a check is "paying for what you use". If you don't like it then don't make the object nullable in the first place and save yourself the test.

The point is that I can choose _when_ to pay that cost (e.g. I can eat the nullability check at this point, but not at this point, and I can use more sophisticated tooling like a static analyser to reason that the null check is done correctly).

Is it more error prone? yes. Does it allow for things to horribly wrong? yes. Is "rewriting it in rust" a solution? No. If I want to pay the cost of ref-counting, I can use shared/weak ptrs.