In Kotlin, the type system distinguishes between references that can hold null (nullable references) and those that cannot (non-null references).

Other issues caused by external Java code. For example, a piece of Java code might add null into a Kotlin MutableList, therefore requiring a MutableList for working with it. Nullability issues with generic types being used for Java interoperation. Usage of the !! operator that is described below.ĭata inconsistency with regard to initialization, such as when:Īn uninitialized this available in a constructor is passed and used somewhere (a 'leaking this').Ī superclass constructor calls an open member whose implementation in the derived class uses an uninitialized state.Īttempts to access a member of a null reference of a platform type The only possible causes of an NPE in Kotlin are:Īn explicit call to throw NullPointerException(). Java allows usage of primitive types but only inside properly allocated objects. If you don’t play Java browser games, you can always disable the browser plugin (RuneScape is one game), and Java browser plugin-based attacks are extremely rare by my experience.

Just make sure you’re running latest non-alpha, non-beta release and you’re good.

To implement the type safety enforcement, each object, before usage, needs to be allocated. Java is necessary for many genuine purposes and isn’t as big risk as you think. Anything in Java happens inside an object and each object is an instance of a class. It is a general-purpose programming language intended to let programmers write once, run anywhere (WORA), meaning that compiled Java code can run on all platforms that support Java without the need for recompilation. The Java language is designed to enforce type safety. In Java this would be the equivalent of a NullPointerException, or an NPE for short. Java is a high-level, class-based, object-oriented programming language that is designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible. One of the most common pitfalls in many programming languages, including Java, is that accessing a member of a null reference will result in a null reference exception. Kotlin's type system is aimed at eliminating the danger of null references, also known as The Billion Dollar Mistake. Null safety Nullable types and non-null types

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