diff --git a/docs/docs/reference/other-new-features/explicit-nulls.md b/docs/docs/reference/other-new-features/explicit-nulls.md index 11cf8583a1d4..40e43219af1c 100644 --- a/docs/docs/reference/other-new-features/explicit-nulls.md +++ b/docs/docs/reference/other-new-features/explicit-nulls.md @@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ This means the following code will no longer typecheck: val x: String = null // error: found `Null`, but required `String` ``` -Instead, to mark a type as nullable we use a [type union](https://dotty.epfl.ch/docs/reference/new-types/union-types.html) +Instead, to mark a type as nullable we use a [union type](https://dotty.epfl.ch/docs/reference/new-types/union-types.html) ``` val x: String|Null = null // ok @@ -51,10 +51,10 @@ More details can be found in [safe initialization](./safe-initialization.md). ## Equality We don't allow the double-equal (`==` and `!=`) and reference (`eq` and `ne`) comparison between -`AnyRef` and `Null` anymore, since a variable with non-nullable type shouldn't have null value. +`AnyRef` and `Null` anymore, since a variable with a non-nullable type cannot have `null` as value. `null` can only be compared with `Null`, nullable union (`T | Null`), or `Any` type. -For some reason, if we really want to compare `null` with non-null values, we can use cast. +For some reason, if we really want to compare `null` with non-null values, we have to provide a type hint (e.g. `: Any`). ```scala val x: String = ??? @@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ So far, we have found the following useful: This means that given `x: String|Null`, `x.nn` has type `String`, so we can call all the usual methods on it. Of course, `x.nn` will throw a NPE if `x` is `null`. - Don't use `.nn` on mutable variables directly, which may introduce unknown value into the type. + Don't use `.nn` on mutable variables directly, because it may introduce an unknown type into the type of the variable. ## Java Interop @@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ Specifically, we patch * the type of fields * the argument type and return type of methods -`UncheckedNull` is an alias for `Null` with magic properties (see below). We illustrate the rules with following examples: +`UncheckedNull` is an alias for `Null` with magic properties (see [below](#uncheckednull)). We illustrate the rules with following examples: * The first two rules are easy: we nullify reference types but not value types. @@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ Specifically, we patch } ``` - In this case, since `Box` is Scala-defined, and we will get `Box[T|UncheckedNull]|UncheckedNull`. + In this case, since `Box` is Scala-defined, we will get `Box[T|UncheckedNull]|UncheckedNull`. This is needed because our nullability function is only applied (modularly) to the Java classes, but not to the Scala ones, so we need a way to tell `Box` that it contains a nullable value. @@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ Specifically, we patch } ``` - * We don't append `UncheckedNull` to a field and the return type of a method which is annotated with a + * We don't append `UncheckedNull` to a field nor to a return type of a method which is annotated with a `NotNull` annotation. ```java @@ -288,7 +288,7 @@ val s2 = if (ret != null) { We added a simple form of flow-sensitive type inference. The idea is that if `p` is a stable path or a trackable variable, then we can know that `p` is non-null if it's compared -with the `null`. This information can then be propagated to the `then` and `else` branches +with `null`. This information can then be propagated to the `then` and `else` branches of an if-statement (among other places). Example: @@ -376,7 +376,7 @@ We are able to detect the nullability of some local mutable variables. A simple class C(val x: Int, val next: C|Null) var xs: C|Null = C(1, C(2, null)) -// xs is trackable, since all assignments are in the same mathod +// xs is trackable, since all assignments are in the same method while (xs != null) { // xs: C val xsx: Int = xs.x @@ -401,7 +401,7 @@ When dealing with local mutable variables, there are two questions: x = null } if (x != null) { - // y can be called here, which break the fact + // y can be called here, which would break the fact val a: String = x // error: x is captured and mutated by the closure, not trackable } ```