Boxed variable is never null¶
ID: java/non-null-boxed-variable
Kind: problem
Security severity:
Severity: warning
Precision: very-high
Tags:
- readability
- types
Query suites:
- java-security-and-quality.qls
Click to see the query in the CodeQL repository
In Java all of the primitive types have boxed counterparts. The boxed types are objects and can therefore be null, whereas the primitive types can never be null. The names of the primitive and boxed types are similar except that primitive types start with a lower-case letter and boxed types start with an upper-case letter (also, for char and int the names of the boxed types are slightly longer, namely Character and Integer).
Because the names are so similar and because Java performs automatic boxing and unboxing conversions, they can easily be confused. Furthermore, using a boxed type where a primitive type was intended leads to both readability issues and potentially superfluous allocation of objects.
Recommendation¶
If a variable is never assigned null it should use the primitive type, as this both directly shows the impossibility of null and also avoids unnecessary boxing and unboxing conversions.
Example¶
In the example below the variable done controls the loop exit. It is only set to false before the loop entry and set to true at some point during the loop iteration.
Boolean done = false;
while (!done) {
// ...
done = true;
// ...
}
Each of the assignments to done involves a boxing conversion and the check involves an unboxing conversion. Since done is never null, these conversions can be completely avoided, and the code made clearer, by using the primitive type instead. Therefore the code should be rewritten in the following way:
boolean done = false;
while (!done) {
// ...
done = true;
// ...
}
References¶
Java Language Specification: Boxing Conversion, Unboxing Conversion.
The Java Tutorials: Autoboxing and Unboxing.