Meme transcription: Panel 1. Two images of JSON, one is the empty object, one is an object in which the key name maps to the value null. Caption: “Corporate needs you to find the difference between this picture and this picture”
Panel 2. The Java backend dev answers, “They’re the same picture.”
I (think, at least) the point they’re making is that unless the API contract specifically differentiates between “present and null” and “absent” then there is no difference. (Specifically for field values.)
The point I’m making is kind of the opposite, unless the contract explicitly states that they’re the same they should not be treated as the same, because at a fundamental level they are not the same thing even if Java wants to treat them as such.