case null vs null pattern

[Remi Forax]

Hi all,
i maybe wrong but it seems that the spec consider null as a kind of case instead of as a kind of pattern, which disables the refactoring that should be possible with the introduction of the record pattern.

Let suppose i have a sealed type with only one implementation declared like this

  sealed interface I {
    record A() implements I { }
  }

if null is part of the set of possible values, i have switches like this

  switch(i) {
    case null, A a -> // do something with 'a' here
  }


Now we are introducing record pattern into the mix, so i can have a Box of I,
  record Box(I i) { }

the problem is that i can not write
  switch(box) {
    case Box(A|null a) -> // do something with 'a' here
  }
  
because null is handled as a kind of case instead of as a kind of a null pattern.

Should we introduce a null pattern instead of having a specific "case null" ?
(and disallow the null pattern in an instanceof ?)

regards,
Rémi