RFR(L): 8218628: Add detailed message to NullPointerException describing what is null.

[Lindenmaier, Goetz]

Hi everybody, Mark,

I followed your advice and created a JEP:
https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8220715

Please point me to things I need to improve formally, this is my first
JEP. Also feel free to fix the administrative information in the 
Jira issue if it is wrong.

And, naturally, you're welcome to discuss the topic!

Best regards,
  Goetz.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mark.reinhold at oracle.com <mark.reinhold at oracle.com>
> Sent: Donnerstag, 14. März 2019 22:38
> To: maurizio.cimadamore at oracle.com; Lindenmaier, Goetz
> <goetz.lindenmaier at sap.com>
> Cc: mandy.chung at oracle.com; roger.riggs at oracle.com; core-libs-
> dev at openjdk.java.net; hotspot-runtime-dev at openjdk.java.net
> Subject: Re: RFR(L): 8218628: Add detailed message to NullPointerException
> describing what is null.
> 
> 2019/3/14 8:00:20 -0700, maurizio.cimadamore at oracle.com:
> > I second what Mandy says.
> >
> > First let me start by saying that this enhancement will be a great
> > addition to our platform; back in the days when I was teaching some Java
> > classes at the university, I was very aware of how hard it is to
> > diagnose a NPE for someone novel to Java programming.
> 
> Agreed!
> 
> > ...
> >
> > I also think that the design space for such an enhancement is non
> > trivial, and would best be explored (and captured!) in a medium that is
> > something other than a patch. ...
> 
> Agreed, also.
> 
> Goetz -- if, per Mandy’s suggestion, you’re going to write something
> up using the JEP template, might I suggest that you then submit it as
> an actual JEP?  Giving visibility to, and recording, such design-space
> explorations is one of the primary goals of the JEP process.
> 
> - Mark