If this is true, all the fields in the data model ...

# grpc

[davec]

If this is true, all the fields in the data model are platform types, which means no null safety unless you explicitly cast each one of them to a nullable type -- which is pretty bad for null safety.

If Java is what's generated it would be nice if it at least marked everything nullable with an annotation (https://kotlinlang.org/docs/java-interop.html#nullability-annotations) just so Kotlin has some idea what to do.

Ideally it would be nice if it actually generated Kotlin instead of Java; maybe it does but I'm not seeing it?

[Marc Plano-Lesay]

Isn't protobuf-java already guaranteeing that it'll never return null anywhere?

[davec]

Not that I'm aware of. My understanding is that everything in gRPC can be nullable all the time by design (so you can change the API).

[davec]

at least in proto3

[davec]

for reference: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31801257/why-required-and-optional-is-removed-in-protocol-buffers-3

[Marc Plano-Lesay]

I'm not 100% sure but close that a field that's not set will return a default instance, not null

[Júlio Santos]

Hi @davec, how are you?
I have seen your interaction here on the channel about gRPC, do you have any projects available?
I will start studying about this subject

[Johann Pardanaud]

I can confirm: protobuf-java garanties everything is not null, when you access an undefined field you will get a default instance

So no worries with Kotlin, yes you are using platform types, but you will never get any null values