Weird question: are there any reason why we can’t ...

# announcements

[laimiux]

Weird question: are there any reason why we can’t do (besides current compiler) val optional: String? = if (someCondition) { "" }

[Josh Feinberg]

I'm guessing here you'd want optional to be null? Seems to me it would be a bit weird cause we're saying not initialized == null

[laimiux]

Essentially expression defaults to null if not exhausted.

[gildor]

Because if without else is not an expression, use null as implicit default value doesn't look as good idea for me

[Ruckus]

For the same reason val x: String? doesn't default to null. Kotlin is all about being explicit.