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curriculum

Curriculum Basics Optionals (?T) exercise 5 · fill-word

Optionals (?T)

Fill the missing single character that marks an optional type. Same character TypeScript uses for T? suffix, but Zig writes it as a PREFIX on the type.

TypeScript reference
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About this theme

TypeScript uses T | null (or T | undefined) to mark "maybe absent" values; Zig's analogue is the type prefix ?T. A ?T value is either some T or null. Three idiomatic ways to handle one: orelse <default> (TS ??), if (x) |unwrapped| { ... } (payload capture that runs only when present), or x.? for "I know it's not null, unwrap anyway" (panics on null). No more silent nullable bugs.