title: Is the null object pattern worth it?
body: <p>I was looking at the null object pattern and i am wondering if it worths implementing it or use "if" checks for nulls in my code intsead. As i looked at the implementations it seems hard to keep objects well synchronized with their null implementations. By making changes to the main object we have to check that the null object behaves as expected and its easy to make implementation errors. Isn't it ?   </p>
  
  <p><strong>EDIT</strong></p>
  
  <p>Avoid checking for null: <a href="http://www.invisible-city.com/sharon/2009/03/null-object-pattern-when-slacker-is.html" rel="noreferrer">http://www.invisible-city.com/sharon/2009/03/null-object-pattern-when-slacker-is.html</a> or <a href="http://journalofasoftwaredev.wordpress.com/2008/08/19/null-object-pattern-by-example/" rel="noreferrer">http://journalofasoftwaredev.wordpress.com/2008/08/19/null-object-pattern-by-example/</a></p>