Revisions to What is a NullReferenceException, and how do I fix it?

Fixes on syntax - so that parentheses are consistent across code examples.

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edited Nov 20, 2020 at 0:48

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On the matter of "what should I do about it", there can be many answers.

A more "formal" way of preventing such error conditions while developing is applying design by contract in your code. This means you need to set class invariants, and/or even function/method preconditions and postconditions on your system, while developing.

In short, class invariants ensure that there will be some constraints in your class that will not get violated in normal use (and therefore, the class will not get in an inconsistent state). Preconditions mean that data given as input to a function/method must follow some constraints set and never violate them, and postconditions mean that a function/method output must follow the set constraints again without ever violating them. Contract conditions should never be violated during execution of a bug-free program, therefore design by contract is checked in practice in debug mode, while being disabled in releases, to maximize the developed system performance.

This way, you can avoid NullReferenceException cases that are results of violation of the constraints set. For example, if you use an object property X in a class and later try to invoke one of its methods and X has a null value, then this will lead to NullReferenceException:

public X { get; set; }

public void InvokeX()
{
    X.DoSomething(); // if X value is null, you will get a NullReferenceException
}

But if you set "property X must never have a null value" as method precondition, then you can prevent the scenario described before:

//Using code contracts:
[ContractInvariantMethod]
protected void ObjectInvariant () 
{
    Contract.Invariant ( X != null );
    //...
}

For this cause, Code Contracts project exists for .NET applications.

Alternatively, design by contract can be applied using assertions.

UPDATE: It is worth mentioning that the term was coined by Bertrand Meyer in connection with his design of the Eiffel programming language.

On the matter of "what should I do about it", there can be many answers.

A more "formal" way of preventing such error conditions while developing is applying design by contract in your code. This means you need to set class invariants, and/or even function/method preconditions and postconditions on your system, while developing.

In short, class invariants ensure that there will be some constraints in your class that will not get violated in normal use (and therefore, the class will not get in an inconsistent state). Preconditions mean that data given as input to a function/method must follow some constraints set and never violate them, and postconditions mean that a function/method output must follow the set constraints again without ever violating them. Contract conditions should never be violated during execution of a bug-free program, therefore design by contract is checked in practice in debug mode, while being disabled in releases, to maximize the developed system performance.

This way, you can avoid NullReferenceException cases that are results of violation of the constraints set. For example, if you use an object property X in a class and later try to invoke one of its methods and X has a null value, then this will lead to NullReferenceException:

public X { get; set; }

public void InvokeX()
{
    X.DoSomething(); // if X value is null, you will get a NullReferenceException
}

But if you set "property X must never have a null value" as method precondition, then you can prevent the scenario described before:

//Using code contracts:
[ContractInvariantMethod]
protected void ObjectInvariant () 
{
    Contract.Invariant ( X != null );
    //...
}

For this cause, Code Contracts project exists for .NET applications.

Alternatively, design by contract can be applied using assertions.

UPDATE: It is worth mentioning that the term was coined by Bertrand Meyer in connection with his design of the Eiffel programming language.

On the matter of "what should I do about it", there can be many answers.

A more "formal" way of preventing such error conditions while developing is applying design by contract in your code. This means you need to set class invariants, and/or even function/method preconditions and postconditions on your system, while developing.

In short, class invariants ensure that there will be some constraints in your class that will not get violated in normal use (and therefore, the class will not get in an inconsistent state). Preconditions mean that data given as input to a function/method must follow some constraints set and never violate them, and postconditions mean that a function/method output must follow the set constraints again without ever violating them. Contract conditions should never be violated during execution of a bug-free program, therefore design by contract is checked in practice in debug mode, while being disabled in releases, to maximize the developed system performance.

This way, you can avoid NullReferenceException cases that are results of violation of the constraints set. For example, if you use an object property X in a class and later try to invoke one of its methods and X has a null value, then this will lead to NullReferenceException:

public X { get; set; }

public void InvokeX()
{
    X.DoSomething(); // if X value is null, you will get a NullReferenceException
}

But if you set "property X must never have a null value" as method precondition, then you can prevent the scenario described before:

//Using code contracts:
[ContractInvariantMethod]
protected void ObjectInvariant() 
{
    Contract.Invariant(X != null);
    //...
}

For this cause, Code Contracts project exists for .NET applications.

Alternatively, design by contract can be applied using assertions.

UPDATE: It is worth mentioning that the term was coined by Bertrand Meyer in connection with his design of the Eiffel programming language.

Replaced "look here" - style links with content. Added link to Eiffel prog. language and mention to its creator.

Source Link

edited Dec 30, 2016 at 15:56

Nick Louloudakis

6k
4
43
57

On the matter of "what should I do about it", there can be many answers.

A more "formal" way of preventing such error conditions while developing is applying design by contractdesign by contract in your code. This means you need to set class invariants, and/or even function/method preconditions and postconditions on your system, while developing.

In short, class invariants ensure that there will be some constraints in your class that will not get violated in normal use (and therefore, the class will notnot get in an inconsistent state). Preconditions mean that data given as input to a function/method must follow some constraints set and never violate them, and postconditions mean that a function/method output must follow the set constraints again without ever violating them. Contract conditions should never be violated during execution of a bug-free program, therefore design by contract is checked in practice in debug mode, while being disabled in releases, to maximize the developed system performance.

This way, you can avoid NullReferenceException cases that are results of violation of the constraints set. For example, if you use an object property X in a class and later try to invoke one of its methods and X has a null value, then this will lead to NullReferenceException:

public X { get; set; }

public void InvokeX()
{
    X.DoSomething(); // if X value is null, you will get a NullReferenceException
}

But if you set "property X must never have a null value" as method precondition, then you can prevent the scenario described before:

//Using code contracts:
[ContractInvariantMethod]
protected void ObjectInvariant () 
{
    Contract.Invariant ( X != null );
    //...
}

For this cause, Code ContractsCode Contracts project exists for .NET applications (take a look here).

Alternatively, design by contract can be applied using assertionsassertions (look.

UPDATE: It is worth mentioning that the term was coined by Bertrand Meyer here for more)in connection with his design of the Eiffel programming language.

On the matter of "what should I do about it", there can be many answers.

A more "formal" way of preventing such error conditions while developing is applying design by contract in your code. This means you need to set class invariants, and/or even function/method preconditions and postconditions on your system, while developing.

In short, class invariants ensure that there will be some constraints in your class that will not get violated in normal use (and therefore, the class will not get in an inconsistent state). Preconditions mean that data given as input to a function/method must follow some constraints set and never violate them, and postconditions mean that a function/method output must follow the set constraints again without ever violating them. Contract conditions should never be violated during execution of a bug-free program, therefore design by contract is checked in practice in debug mode, while being disabled in releases, to maximize the developed system performance.

This way, you can avoid NullReferenceException cases that are results of violation of the constraints set. For example, if you use an object property X in a class and later try to invoke one of its methods and X has a null value, then this will lead to NullReferenceException:

public X { get; set; }

public void InvokeX()
{
  X.DoSomething(); // if X value is null, you will get a NullReferenceException
}

But if you set "property X must never have a null value" as method precondition, then you can prevent the scenario described before:

//Using code contracts:
[ContractInvariantMethod]
protected void ObjectInvariant () 
{
  Contract.Invariant ( X != null );
  //...
}

For this cause, Code Contracts project exists for .NET applications (take a look here).

Alternatively, design by contract can be applied using assertions (look here for more).

On the matter of "what should I do about it", there can be many answers.

A more "formal" way of preventing such error conditions while developing is applying design by contract in your code. This means you need to set class invariants, and/or even function/method preconditions and postconditions on your system, while developing.

In short, class invariants ensure that there will be some constraints in your class that will not get violated in normal use (and therefore, the class will not get in an inconsistent state). Preconditions mean that data given as input to a function/method must follow some constraints set and never violate them, and postconditions mean that a function/method output must follow the set constraints again without ever violating them. Contract conditions should never be violated during execution of a bug-free program, therefore design by contract is checked in practice in debug mode, while being disabled in releases, to maximize the developed system performance.

This way, you can avoid NullReferenceException cases that are results of violation of the constraints set. For example, if you use an object property X in a class and later try to invoke one of its methods and X has a null value, then this will lead to NullReferenceException:

public X { get; set; }

public void InvokeX()
{
    X.DoSomething(); // if X value is null, you will get a NullReferenceException
}

But if you set "property X must never have a null value" as method precondition, then you can prevent the scenario described before:

//Using code contracts:
[ContractInvariantMethod]
protected void ObjectInvariant () 
{
    Contract.Invariant ( X != null );
    //...
}

For this cause, Code Contracts project exists for .NET applications.

Alternatively, design by contract can be applied using assertions.

UPDATE: It is worth mentioning that the term was coined by Bertrand Meyer in connection with his design of the Eiffel programming language.

Post Made Community Wiki by ChrisF

occurred Jul 30, 2015 at 8:22

Post Undeleted by Nick Louloudakis

occurred Dec 27, 2014 at 0:25

Post Deleted by Nick Louloudakis

occurred Dec 27, 2014 at 0:23

Fixed example, was problematic.

Source Link

edited Dec 26, 2014 at 0:15

Nick Louloudakis

6k
4
43
57

On the matter of "what should I do about it", there can be many answers.

A more formal"formal" way of preventing such error conditions while developing is applying design by contract in your code. This means you need to set class invariants, and/or even function/method preconditions and postconditions on your system, while developing.

In short, class invariants ensure that there will be some constraints in your class that will not get violated in normal use (and therefore, the class will not get in an inconsistent state). Preconditions mean that data given as input to a function/method must follow some constraints set and never violate them, and postconditions mean that a function/method output must follow the set constraints again without ever violating them. Contract conditions should never be violated during execution of a bug-free program, therefore design by contract is checked in practice in debug mode, while being disabled in releases, to maximize the developed system performance.

This way, you can avoid NullReferenceException cases that are results of violation of the constraints set (for. For example, if you use an object property xX in a method taken as argumentclass and later try to invoke one of its methods but you are givenand X has a null argument value, then this will lead to NullReferenceException, while setting "object argument x must be instantiated" as method precondition, then you can prevent the scenario described before):

public X { get; set; }

public void InvokeX(MyClass x)
{
  xX.DoSomething(); // if xX value is null, you will get a NullReferenceException
}

But if you set "property X must never have a null value" as method precondition, then you can prevent the scenario described before:

//Using code contracts:
[ContractInvariantMethod]
protected void ObjectInvariant () 
{
  Contract.Invariant ( X != null );
  //...
}

For this cause, Code Contracts project exists for .NET applications (take a look here).

Alternatively, design by contract can be applied using assertions (look here for more).

On the matter of "what should I do about it", there can be many answers.

A more formal way of preventing such error conditions while developing is applying design by contract in your code. This means you need to set class invariants, and/or even function/method preconditions and postconditions on your system, while developing.

In short, class invariants ensure that there will be some constraints in your class that will not get violated in normal use (and therefore, the class will not get in an inconsistent state). Preconditions mean that data given as input to a function/method must follow some constraints set and never violate them, and postconditions mean that a function/method output must follow the set constraints again without ever violating them. Contract conditions should never be violated during execution of a bug-free program, therefore design by contract is checked in practice in debug mode, while being disabled in releases, to maximize the developed system performance.

This way, you can avoid NullReferenceException cases that are results of violation of the constraints set (for example, if you use an object x in a method taken as argument to invoke one of its methods but you are given a null argument value, then this will lead to NullReferenceException, while setting "object argument x must be instantiated" as method precondition, then you can prevent the scenario described before):

public void InvokeX(MyClass x)
{
  x.DoSomething(); // if x is null, you will get a NullReferenceException
}

For this cause, Code Contracts project exists for .NET applications (take a look here).

Alternatively, design by contract can be applied using assertions (look here for more).

On the matter of "what should I do about it", there can be many answers.

A more "formal" way of preventing such error conditions while developing is applying design by contract in your code. This means you need to set class invariants, and/or even function/method preconditions and postconditions on your system, while developing.

In short, class invariants ensure that there will be some constraints in your class that will not get violated in normal use (and therefore, the class will not get in an inconsistent state). Preconditions mean that data given as input to a function/method must follow some constraints set and never violate them, and postconditions mean that a function/method output must follow the set constraints again without ever violating them. Contract conditions should never be violated during execution of a bug-free program, therefore design by contract is checked in practice in debug mode, while being disabled in releases, to maximize the developed system performance.

This way, you can avoid NullReferenceException cases that are results of violation of the constraints set. For example, if you use an object property X in a class and later try to invoke one of its methods and X has a null value, then this will lead to NullReferenceException:

public X { get; set; }

public void InvokeX()
{
  X.DoSomething(); // if X value is null, you will get a NullReferenceException
}

But if you set "property X must never have a null value" as method precondition, then you can prevent the scenario described before:

//Using code contracts:
[ContractInvariantMethod]
protected void ObjectInvariant () 
{
  Contract.Invariant ( X != null );
  //...
}

For this cause, Code Contracts project exists for .NET applications (take a look here).

Alternatively, design by contract can be applied using assertions (look here for more).

Added small code, extended answer.

Source Link

edited Dec 26, 2014 at 0:08

Nick Louloudakis

6k
4
43
57

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answered Dec 25, 2014 at 23:54

Nick Louloudakis

6k
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43
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