Stop Checking for None Everywhere

🧱 Build software that lasts. Join the Software Design Mastery waiting list → arjan.codes/mastery. 'None' seems harmless at first. But once it starts spreading through your codebase, every function needs more checks, more validation, and more defensive programming. In this video, I show several ways to avoid overusing 'None', including better defaults, fail-fast validation, explicit state modeling, and the Null Object pattern. The goal isn't to eliminate 'None' completely, but to keep uncertainty at the edges of your system and make the core of your code simpler and more reliable. 🔥 GitHub Repository: git.arjan.codes/2026/none. 🎓 ArjanCodes Courses: arjancodes.com/courses. 💬 Join my Discord server: discord.arjan.codes. ⌨️ Keyboard I’m using: amzn.to/49YM97v. 🔖 Chapters: 0:00 Intro 1:08 Why None Spreads 2:49 Option 1: Use Better Defaults 4:06 Option 2: Push Validation Earlier 8:21 Option 3: Rely on exceptions 10:26 Option 4: Model Different States Explicitly 12:59 Option 5: Use a Null Object 15:50 Option 6: The Less Common Options 18:34 Fail Fast vs Defensive Programming 19:59 Final Thoughts #arjancodes #softwaredesign #python