Optional return in C#.Net

Question

Java 1.8 is receiving the Optional<T> class, that allows us to explicitly say when a method may return a null value and "force" its consumer to verify if it is not null (isPresent()) before using it.

I see C# has Nullable<T>, that does something similar, but with basic types. It seems to be used for DB queries, to distinguish when a value exists and is 0 from when it doesn't exist and is null.

But it seems that C#'s Nullable<T>doesn't work for objects, only for basic types, while Java's Optional<T> only works for objects and not for basic types.

Is there a Nullable/Optional class in C#, that forces us to test if object exists before extracting and using it?

Answer 1

Not in the language, no, but you can make your own:

public struct Optional<T>
{
    public bool HasValue { get; private set; }
    private T value;
    public T Value
    {
        get
        {
            if (HasValue)
                return value;
            else
                throw new InvalidOperationException();
        }
    }

    public Optional(T value)
    {
        this.value = value;
        HasValue = true;
    }

    public static explicit operator T(Optional<T> optional)
    {
        return optional.Value;
    }
    public static implicit operator Optional<T>(T value)
    {
        return new Optional<T>(value);
    }

    public override bool Equals(object obj)
    {
        if (obj is Optional<T>)
            return this.Equals((Optional<T>)obj);
        else
            return false;
    }
    public bool Equals(Optional<T> other)
    {
        if (HasValue && other.HasValue)
            return object.Equals(value, other.value);
        else
            return HasValue == other.HasValue;
    }
}

Note that you won't be able to emulate certain behaviors of Nullable<T>, such as the ability to box a nullable value with no value to null, rather than a boxed nullable, as it has special compiler support for that (and a some other) behavior.