null reference

USAGE SUMMARY

The phrase "null reference" is correct and usable in written English.
It is typically used in programming and computer science to refer to a reference that does not point to any object or value. Example: "When the program attempted to access the variable, it resulted in a null reference error."

✓ Grammatically correct

Science

News & Media

Academia

Human-verified examples from authoritative sources

Exact Expressions

5 human-written examples

should be returned if 'reference' is NULL or contains a NULL reference.

Stanford University

where, ¬ = Negation, bp = Break point, Ir = Invalid reference, Nr = Null reference, Df = Data flow, Con = Constraint.

Human-centric Computing and Information Sciences

Since the null reference is a legitimate value of every object type as far as the language is concerned, the compiler has no way to distinguish between these different uses.

Forbes

We intend to implement alternative methods of choosing the best value of k, such as employing the GAP statistic [37], a measure that evaluates the difference (gap) between the within-cluster sum of squares of a given partition with its expectation under a null reference distribution.

Journal of the Brazilian Computer Society

First we calculated the observed proportions of life forms in different categories, next we generated the null reference distribution by rearranging the order of observed data over the categories by shuffling them randomly, and computed the proportions for data so randomised.

BMC Ecology

Human-verified similar examples from authoritative sources

Similar Expressions

55 human-written examples

As we can see, Null references was the issue most frequently seen in all services.

Journal of Internet Services and Applications

In fact, Null references was the most observed issue, followed by Data access operations and Conversion issues (in roughly similar frequencies).

Journal of Internet Services and Applications

Table 7 Relative distribution of tags per total tag count (home-implemented services) Tag % Distribution Null references 29 Data access operations 19 Persistence error 14 System vendor disclosure 10 Conversion issues 9 Wrong type definition 9 Wrapped error information 5 Overflow 5. Also important is the consumers view of robustness results.

Journal of Internet Services and Applications

Table 5 Relative distribution of tags per total tag count (public services) Tag % Distribution Null references 22 Data access operations 12 Server resource disclosure 9 Conversion issues 9 Wrong type definition 8 Persistence error 7 Specific server failure message 6 Wrapped error information 6 Other 21.

Journal of Internet Services and Applications

Statistical significance of the observed differences with the null hypothesis (reference value of 0) in a one-sample t test: n.s.s

eLife

The null-effect reference line at 1.0 is shown in the fold-change plots, and statistically significant fold changes are indicated by whisker 95% confidence intervals that do not cross the reference line.

Breast Cancer Research

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

Always check for "null references" before attempting to dereference them to prevent runtime errors. Implement robust error handling to gracefully manage these situations.

Common error

Avoid assuming that a reference is always valid. Failing to check for "null references" can lead to unexpected crashes and difficult-to-debug issues. Implement checks, especially when dealing with external data or optional values.

Linguistic Context

The phrase "null reference" functions as a noun phrase, specifically identifying a reference (in programming or computer science) that does not point to any valid object or memory location. As confirmed by Ludwig AI, this term is correctly used in the English language within technical contexts.

Expression frequency: Rare

Frequent in

Science

60%

News & Media

20%

Academia

20%

Less common in

Formal & Business

0%

Encyclopedias

0%

Wiki

0%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

In summary, "null reference" is a noun phrase used in computer science to indicate a reference that does not point to a valid object or memory location. As Ludwig AI confirms, it's a grammatically correct term commonly found in formal and scientific contexts. Usage examples and the related phrases suggest that understanding and handling "null references" is crucial for preventing runtime errors in programming. When writing code, it's vital to check for "null references" to avoid crashes. Related terms include "null pointer" and "invalid reference", each offering subtle differences in emphasis.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

null pointer

Replaces "reference" with "pointer", both referring to a memory address, especially common in C-like languages.

null object reference

Specifies that the reference is to an object, and that object is null.

invalid reference

Emphasizes the state of the reference being unusable or pointing to an inaccessible location.

empty reference

Highlights the absence of any meaningful content or target for the reference.

nil reference

Uses "nil", a common term equivalent to null, especially in languages like Objective-C and Swift.

unset reference

Indicates that the reference has not been assigned a value or target.

uninitialized reference

Focuses on the point that the reference hasn't been given an initial, valid value.

dangling reference

Suggests the reference is pointing to memory that has been deallocated or is no longer valid.

void reference

Describes the reference as pointing to nothing, similar to a void pointer.

non-existent reference

Stresses the lack of existence of what the reference should point to.

FAQs

How do I handle a "null reference" exception in my code?

You should implement a check to ensure the reference is not null before attempting to use it. This can be done using an if statement or a similar conditional check. For example: if (reference != null) { // Use the reference }.

What are common causes of a "null reference" in programming?

Common causes include uninitialized variables, accessing fields of an object that hasn't been properly instantiated, or receiving a null value from a method call or external data source.

What is the difference between a "null reference" and an empty string?

A "null reference" means the variable doesn't point to any object in memory. An empty string ("") is a valid string object that contains no characters. They are fundamentally different concepts; an empty string is an object, while a "null reference" is the absence of an object.

What alternatives can I use instead of throwing a "NullReferenceException"?

Instead of throwing an exception, consider returning a default value, using the Null Object pattern, or employing Maybe/Optional types to explicitly handle the potential absence of a value. Use techniques to prevent the /s/null+reference+exception altogether.