Though Java 8 introduces the Optional class to improve readability and prevent NullPointerException, implicit performance overhead in inevitable in the following test cases.

JavaOptionalTest.java

public class JavaTest {
    long nanos;
    
    @Before
    public void setUp() {
        System.gc();
        nanos = System.nanoTime();
    }

    @After
    public void tearDown() {
        nanos = System.nanoTime() - nanos;
        System.out.printf("time elapse: %.3fms\n", nanos / 1000.0);
    }
    
    private Number getNumberNull(int n) {
        return n == 777 ? new Integer(777) : null;
    }

    private Optional<Number> getNumberOptional(int n) {
        return n == 777 ? Optional.of(777) : Optional.empty();
    }

    @Test
    public void testNumberNull() {
        int count = 0;
        for(int i = 0; i < 10000; i++) {
            Number number = getNumberNull(i);
            if(number != null) count += number.intValue();
        }
        assertEquals(777, count);
    }

    @Test
    public void testNumberOptional() {
        int count = 0;
        for(int i = 0; i < 10000; i++) {
            Optional<Number> number = getNumberOptional(i);
            if(number.isPresent()) count += number.get().intValue();
        }
        assertEquals(777, count);
    }
}

Results on MacBook Air:

• testNumberNull(): 1000 to 1400us
• testNumberOptional(): 2000 to 4000us or more