This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Java Buzz by Michael Cote. Original Post: Nullable Types in C# Feed Title: Cote's Weblog: Coding, Austin, etc. Feed URL: https://cote.io/feed/ Feed Description: Using Java to get to the ideal state. Latest Java Buzz Posts Latest Java Buzz Posts by Michael Cote Latest Posts From Cote's Weblog: Coding, Austin, etc.

The author of the RSS reader I use at work (Bloglines don't worky behind the firewall), has an interesting pointed about (Non)Nullable Types in C# 2.0. From my 10 second skimming it looks pretty interesting:

This new C# feature will allow one to specify a Type like int? which will act just like a regular int, with the exception that it can now also be null.

I'm sure there's more utility to it, but the first nice thing seems to be that -1 (or whatever) would no longer be "equal" to null for numeric primitives.

I remember when C# first came out I saw two IT-dressed (of the khakis and long sleeve shirts tucked in) people in a Starbuck's, in Houston, reading the O'Reilly book on the topic. (Wow, that book is now in it's 3rd edition.) I'm sure there's lots of C# chatter around, but since I'm pretty much neck-deep in Java, the only mentions I really encounter are in Fowler's recent book, and the occasional stumble upon like the above.