Optional return type of getter in Java 8

Question

In Java 8, is it a good practice if I return an optional<foo>type instead of a classic foo using a getter method in Java?

Answer 1

Well, you can do that but originally this function is not supposed to be used as a general purpose Maybe type. According to the documentation, this function provides a limited mechanism for library method return types to represent "no result" in a clearer approach. Moreover, you can use this function as a return value for getters() but it might be considered as over-use of the function.

I think routinely using it as a return value for getters would definitely be over-use.

But according to the Public service announcement: " NEVER call Optional.get unless you can prove it will never be null; instead, use one of the safe methods like orElse or ifPresent. In retrospect, we should have called get something like getOrElseThrowNoSuchElementException or something that made it far clearer that this was a highly dangerous method that undermined the whole purpose of Optional in the first place. "