Why does Java have a “NullPointerException” when there are no pointers in Java?

Question

Why do I get an exception called NullPointerException if in Java there is no such concept as a pointer?

Answer 1

Yes this is one of the first annoying things I learned when learning Java LOL. It really should be called NullReferenceException, NoObjectException or DereferenceException as paxdiablo mentioned. References don't even have to represented internally as pointers and you shouldn't have to care. "Most VMs including Sun's use handles, not pointers. A handle is a pointer to a pointer so who knows how they came up with using that?" Oh Microsoft's Java VM actually does use pointers rather than handles so go figure.