I think you’ve read me out of context. Of course I understand why Optionals can be null, I was just pointing out - literally in defence of Java - something I don’t like.

I don’t really get your other arguments. I think the problem has been solved better in other languages including Swift, Kotlin and Rust, and Java could have learned from them, but didn’t. I can’t see why direct language support couldn’t have been added to solve this “billion dollar problem”. Even the Elvis operator would have helped.