Ian Hatch (wererogue) wrote,
Ian Hatch
wererogue

To null or to NULL?

I learned object oriented programming in Java. In Java, you specify that a variable of any kind (aside from basic types - int, for example) is unset by setting it to null. This sets the variable's internal reference to the data for that object to a special value which says "I am unset". This convention is used in C# and javascript, and probably a few others.

In C++, you can't unset a reference. However, you can use pointers, which are actual addresses of the memory location containing the data, and by convention, setting a pointer to 0 means it's unset. Universally, there is a label defined which is translated to 0 called NULL which makes code a lot easier to read.

Now, I'm perfectly used to NULL. I've worked with it every day for nearly 3 years now, and it's fine. However, I've just started work on a project at home in C#.

Initially, I was typing NULL in C#, which kind of made sense. After all, I haven't used Java for a long time. However, I soon got used to using null instead, probably because of the 5+ years of using it before I really got into C++.

Today at work I've been typing null all day!

As I type this out, I realise how incredibly dull it is. Too bad! I'm posting it anyway :P
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