When to use Option

Question

I learn Scala for some time and can\'t clearly understand the usage of Option. It helps me to avoid null checks when I chain functions (according to docs). That\'s clear for

Answer 1

The idea behind Options is to get rid off null, so yes, you should use them instead of returning "null or a value". That's also why, if you want to model optional fields (0..1 relationship with other objects), using Option is definitely a good thing.

The little drawback is that it renders declaration of class with a lot of optional field a bit verbose, as you mentionned.

One more thing, in scala, you are encouraged to use "immutable objects", so in your example, the fields should be some vals. ;)