Java: avoid checking for null in nested classes (Deep Null checking)

Question

Imagine I have a class Family. It contains a List of Person. Each (class) Person contains a (class) Address. Each (class) Address contains a (class) PostalCode. Any "i

Answer 1

The closest you can get is to take advantage of the short-cut rules in conditionals:

if(family != null && family.getPeople() != null && family.people.get(0) != null  && family.people.get(0).getAddress() != null && family.people.get(0).getAddress().getPostalCode() != null) {
                    //FINALLY MADE IT TO DO SOMETHING!!!

}

By the way, catching an exception instead of testing the condition in advance is a horrible idea.