How to avoid null checking in Java?

Question

I use object != null a lot to avoid NullPointerException.

Is there a good alternative to this?

For example I often use:

Answer 1

• If you consider an object should not be null (or it is a bug) use an assert.
• If your method doesn't accept null params say it in the javadoc and use an assert.

You have to check for object != null only if you want to handle the case where the object may be null...

There is a proposal to add new annotations in Java7 to help with null / notnull params: http://tech.puredanger.com/java7/#jsr308