if(null check)-else vs try catch(NullPointerException) which is more efficient?

Question

Which of the following three functions is more efficient;

  public String getmConnectedDeviceName1() {
        if(null != mServerDevice) {
            retur         


        

Answer 1

Regardless of performance, I would prefer the if-else form. Suppose mServerDevice is not null, but something goes badly wrong during the getName() call and it throws a NullPointerException. The exception-based version will silently return null, without logging the error.