Throwing ArgumentNullException

Question

Suppose I have a method that takes an object of some kind as an argument. Now say that if this method is passed a null argument, it\'s a fatal error and an exception shoul

Answer 1

I agree with the idea of failing fast - however it is wise to know why failing fast is practical. Consider this example:

void someMethod(SomeClass x)
{       
    x.Property.doSomething();
}

If you rely on the NullReferenceException to tell you that something was wrong, how will you know what was null? The stack trace will only give you a line number, not which reference was null. In this example x or x.Property could both have been null and without failing fast with aggressive checking beforehand, you will not know which it is.