There are a lot of questions about null and in java. 

What I am failing to grasp is what people mean by null is pointing to nothing or why to use null at all.

I can't understand the difference between

```
String thing = null;

```

and 

```
String thing = "";

```

This question has detailed answers [What is null in Java?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2707322/what-is-null-in-java), but I just can't wrap my head around it.

What am I missing?

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*languages I've studied (no expert)*

Python, vb (vb.net), web programming (html, css, php, bit of js), sql

I should add, it is this answer <https://stackoverflow.com/a/19697058/2776866> which prompted me to write this.