Explanatory example showing how `Option[T]` is much more powerful than just `null.asInstanceOf[T]`

None-vs-null-worksheet.scala

//  Comparison of using `null` vs `None` to represetn NAs

val csvtext = "1,4,5,6,,9,12"
val tokens = csvtext.split(",").toList
// Null NA Approach

val nullNAs = tokens.map(t => if(t.isEmpty) null else t)
val numFromNulled = for {
    t <- nullNAs
    num = if(t == null) null else t.toInt
} yield(num)

val numFromNulledFiltered = numFromNulled.filter(_ != null)

// Option NA Approach
val optionNAs = tokens.map(t => if(t.isEmpty) None else Some(t))

val numFromOptioned = for {
    optioned <- optionNAs
    num = if(optioned.isEmpty) None else Some(optioned.get.toInt)
} yield(num)

val numFromOptionedFiltered = numFromOptioned.filter(_.nonEmpty).flatten

val tightNumFromOptioned = optionNAs.flatMap(_.map(_.toInt))

val forNumFromOptioned = for {
    maybeNA <- optionNAs
    t <- maybeNA
} yield(t.toInt)