Is there a more concise way to write this Java code?

This foo that is returned by lookup could be null.

That's why I'm trying to avoid calling foo.getFooStr() on a null value by first retu开发者_运维问答rning null if foo is null.

But is there a better (more concise) way to write this?

public static String getFooStr(String input)
{
    Foo foo = lookup(input);
    if(foo==null)
    {
        return null;
    }
    return foo.getFooStr();
}

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You've two questions: is there a better way to write the code, and is there a more concise way to write the code.

Regarding more concise, this could work:

public static String getFooStr(String input) {
    Foo foo = lookup(input);          
    return foo == null ? null : foo.getFooStr();
}

Regarding better: I value readability over conciseness any day, and by a wide margin. Your original code looks fine to me. What matters is what looks good to you, and which is easier for you to understand and debug 3 months from now. I've heard someone say it best -- write your code so that is easily understandable by others, and even more importantly, by your future self.

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Why isn't there a lookup that returns the appropriate foo string?

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I'm not into java, but I do like clean code... Source code should be easy to read and understand for humans - the machine doesn't care how it looks but your colleagues do. More concise code usually takes a moment or two longer to grasp (sometimes much longeer depending on the quantity and complexity). Keep code understandable and it will be maintainable (even if it is a bit more verbose)!

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Groovy does it nicer.

return lookup(input)?.fooStr

or even just:

lookup(input)?.fooStr

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For Java 7, at some point it was planned that you could just write this:

public static String getFooStr(String input)
{
    Foo foo = lookup(input);
    return foo?.getFooStr();
}

But until this feature is widely known, you will have to stick to the ?: operator.

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I do not like multiple returns any where in any code. I will just change it to

public static String getFooStr(String input)
{
    Foo foo = lookup(input);
    String fooString;
    if(foo!=null)
    {
        fooString = foo.getFooStr();
    }
    return fooString;
}

Also the version from @Hovercraft Full Of Eels is good in my opinion but less readable but still a common way of doing.

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In Java8:

Optional.ofNullable(lookup(input)).map(f->f.getFooStr()).orElse(null);