Discussion on: Code Smell 145 - Short Circuit Hack

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Replies for: What about optional chaining? Which of course only works with functions designed to be chained, like user?.isValid()?.logUserIn();

Null is the worst code smell

And optional chaining, IMHO hids this antipattern.
I've written a smell on optional chaining. I will publish it in the following weeks

hackernoon.com/null-the-billion-do...

And optional chaining is another code smell

Code Smell 149 - Optional Chaining

Maxi Contieri ・ Jul 16 ・ 2 min read

#javascript #webdev #beginners #programming

Lars Ejaas • Jul 2 '22

But we are not always writing the data or code with null ourselves.

One example: Auto-generated types made with GraphQL Code Generator.
We still need to be able to handle null.
Null does indeed make sense if you do not know if data will return empty.

Maxi Contieri • Jul 2 '22

Of course
In case null is beyond your own control you need to deal with it

That is why it is the billion dollar mistake

We must be mature enough to avoid creating NEW nulls

Lars Ejaas • Jul 2 '22

Yeah, that makes sense 😄