[dep_b]

The @Nullable syntax is akin to putting a band-aid on a rotting leg. You cannot fix Java without breaking compatibility with older code. They only way to see it is not to look at the problem from the inside out when you have been surrounded with Java for perhaps decades in your career.

In my code null-pointer exceptions or similar accidents (force unwrapping something that simply doesn't exist) never happens anymore. Not in my libraries and not in my program code. A whole class of bugs just gone. Simply because I have to prove that something exists before I use it at compile time already.

It's like having security that starts with everything turned OFF for a default user instead of ON.