根据您的场景，IllegalArgumentException是最好的选择，因为null不是属性的有效值。

如果您选择抛出NPE，并且在方法中使用参数，显式检查null可能是多余的和昂贵的。我想VM已经为你做了。

实际上，在我看来，抛出IllegalArgumentException或NullPointerException的问题只是对Java中不完全理解异常处理的少数人的“圣战”。一般来说，规则很简单，如下:

argument constraint violations must be indicated as fast as possible (-> fast fail), in order to avoid illegal states which are much harder to debug in case of an invalid null pointer for whatever reason, throw NullPointerException in case of an illegal array/collection index, throw ArrayIndexOutOfBounds in case of a negative array/collection size, throw NegativeArraySizeException in case of an illegal argument that is not covered by the above, and for which you don't have another more specific exception type, throw IllegalArgumentException as a wastebasket on the other hand, in case of a constraint violation WITHIN A FIELD that could not be avoided by fast fail for some valid reason, catch and rethrow as IllegalStateException or a more specific checked exception. Never let pass the original NullPointerException, ArrayIndexOutOfBounds, etc in this case!

至少有三个非常好的理由反对将所有类型的参数约束违反映射到IllegalArgumentException，第三个理由可能非常严重，以至于标志着这种做法的糟糕风格:

(1) A programmer cannot a safely assume that all cases of argument constraint violations result in IllegalArgumentException, because the large majority of standard classes use this exception rather as a wastebasket if there is no more specific kind of exception available. Trying to map all cases of argument constraint violations to IllegalArgumentException in your API only leads to programmer frustration using your classes, as the standard libraries mostly follow different rules that violate yours, and most of your API users will use them as well!

(2) Mapping the exceptions actually results in a different kind of anomaly, caused by single inheritance: All Java exceptions are classes, and therefore support single inheritance only. Therefore, there is no way to create an exception that is truly say both a NullPointerException and an IllegalArgumentException, as subclasses can only inherit from one or the other. Throwing an IllegalArgumentException in case of a null argument therefore makes it harder for API users to distinguish between problems whenever a program tries to programmatically correct the problem, for example by feeding default values into a call repeat!

(3) Mapping actually creates the danger of bug masking: In order to map argument constraint violations into IllegalArgumentException, you'll need to code an outer try-catch within every method that has any constrained arguments. However, simply catching RuntimeException in this catch block is out of the question, because that risks mapping documented RuntimeExceptions thrown by libery methods used within yours into IllegalArgumentException, even if they are no caused by argument constraint violations. So you need to be very specific, but even that effort doesn't protect you from the case that you accidentally map an undocumented runtime exception of another API (i.e. a bug) into an IllegalArgumentException of your API. Even the most careful mapping therefore risks masking programming errors of other library makers as argument constraint violations of your method's users, which is simply hillareous behavior!

With the standard practice on the other hand, the rules stay simple, and exception causes stay unmasked and specific. For the method caller, the rules are easy as well: - if you encounter a documented runtime exception of any kind because you passed an illegal value, either repeat the call with a default (for this specific exceptions are neccessary), or correct your code - if on the other hand you enccounter a runtime exception that is not documented to happen for a given set of arguments, file a bug report to the method's makers to ensure that either their code or their documentation is fixed.

在这种情况下，IllegalArgumentException使用API向用户传达了“不应该为空”的明确信息。正如其他论坛用户指出的那样，只要你使用API向用户传达正确的信息，你就可以使用NPE。

GaryF和tweak放弃了“有效Java”(我发誓)的参考，建议使用NPE。看看其他好的API是如何构造的，这是了解如何构造你的API的最好方法。

Another good example is to look at the Spring APIs. For example, org.springframework.beans.BeanUtils.instantiateClass(Constructor ctor, Object[] args) has a Assert.notNull(ctor, "Constructor must not be null") line. org.springframework.util.Assert.notNull(Object object, String message) method checks to see if the argument (object) passed in is null and if it is it throws a new IllegalArgumentException(message) which is then caught in the org.springframework.beans.BeanUtils.instantiateClass(...) method.

您应该抛出一个IllegalArgumentException，因为这将使程序员清楚地知道他做了一些无效的事情。开发人员太习惯于看到VM抛出的NPE，以至于任何程序员都不会立即意识到自己的错误，并开始随机查看，或者更糟糕的是，指责你的代码“有bug”。

给杰森·科恩的论点投了一票，因为它表现得很好。让我一步一步地分解它。: -)

The NPE JavaDoc explicitly says, "other illegal uses of the null object". If it was just limited to situations where the runtime encounters a null when it shouldn't, all such cases could be defined far more succinctly. Can't help it if you assume the wrong thing, but assuming encapsulation is applied properly, you really shouldn't care or notice whether a null was dereferenced inappropriately vs. whether a method detected an inappropriate null and fired an exception off. I'd choose NPE over IAE for multiple reasons It is more specific about the nature of the illegal operation Logic that mistakenly allows nulls tends to be very different from logic that mistakenly allows illegal values. For example, if I'm validating data entered by a user, if I get value that is unacceptable, the source of that error is with the end user of the application. If I get a null, that's programmer error. Invalid values can cause things like stack overflows, out of memory errors, parsing exceptions, etc. Indeed, most errors generally present, at some point, as an invalid value in some method call. For this reason I see IAE as actually the MOST GENERAL of all exceptions under RuntimeException. Actually, other invalid arguments can result in all kinds of other exceptions. UnknownHostException, FileNotFoundException, a variety of syntax error exceptions, IndexOutOfBoundsException, authentication failures, etc., etc.

总的来说，我觉得NPE受到了很大的诋毁，因为传统上一直与未能遵循快速失效原则的代码联系在一起。再加上JDK未能用消息字符串填充NPE，这确实产生了一种强烈的负面情绪，这种情绪是没有根据的。实际上，从运行时的角度来看，NPE和IAE之间的区别仅限于名称。从这个角度来看，你的名字越精确，你给调用者的信息就越清晰。