optionalorelse

OptionalorElse is a term used in discussions of option types and nullable value handling to describe the operation of obtaining the contained value or falling back to a provided default when the value is absent. It is commonly associated with languages and libraries that model optional values or maybes, such as Java’s Optional, Scala’s Option, or similar constructs in other ecosystems.

Semantics and variants vary by language. In general, an OptionalorElse-like operation returns the contained value if it is present; otherwise it returns a supplied default. Some implementations evaluate the default eagerly, while others use a lazy supplier or function to compute the default only when needed. For example, Java’s Optional.orElse evaluates the default argument eagerly, whereas Optional.orElseGet accepts a supplier and computes the default lazily. Similar patterns exist in other languages, where getOrElse or orElseGet-style methods provide laziness or different evaluation semantics.

Usage and implications. OptionalorElse helps avoid explicit null checks by centralizing the fallback logic in the optional-handling API. It is particularly useful when a sensible default value exists and when code should remain concise and readable. Developers should be mindful of evaluation behavior, especially when default values are expensive to compute. In cases where the default is costly, choosing a lazy variant or a separate conditional flow may yield better performance.

See also: Optional, Maybe, Null safety, Null coalescing operator, getOrElse, orElse.