I have this kind of pattern when setting optionals :

if( myThing == null ) { myThing = ... }

I always get an error if I try to reference

myThing

after this block, because the compiler can't tell if it's null or not. I assume this is because threads exist. Is there a option I can give to the compiler to tell it I'm single threaded, and it can ensure the type is correct?

the easy option is to use

myThing?.let {}

, since it will capture the definitely-not-null

myThing

into a variable

it's usually the case where I want to set it if it's null, and return it if it's not.

why not

var myThing: Any? = null
myThing = myThing ?: something
myThing.doThing() //at least for me compiler is ok with this