title: Why java prints null string as "null" instead of throwing a NullPointerException?
body: <blockquote>
    <p><strong>Possible Duplicate:</strong><br>
    <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7374363/why-does-null-reference-print-as-null">Why does null reference print as &ldquo;null&rdquo;</a>  </p>
  </blockquote>
  
  
  
  <p>This is specified in java API.  I wonder if this is for compatibility with previous versions of java, or has some other important reasons.</p>