Naming: how to name method overloads which return nullable result?

[TahirAhmadov]

In LINQ, we have First and FirstOrDefault, etc., where First throws on empty collection and FirstOrDefault returns null. I actually created 2 other extensions, FirstOrNull and FirstOrNullStruct, because I don't like the "default" semantics and prefer "real" T? for value types, so I get (int?)null instead of (int)0.
In other places, I have other methods, like IConfiguration.GetResolvedValueRequired and IConfiguration.GetResolvedValue, which access config settings (and do some other logic on top of the regular GetValue), and the "required" one throws, and the other one returns null, if the config setting is missing.
Yes in other places, I have methods like IContainer.Resolve and IContainer.ResolveOptional (for dependency injection), where Resolve throws and ResolveOptional returns null.
Today, I realized that I have 3 different naming schemes for essentially the same pattern.
I was curious if other members encountered this naming challenge, what they went with, - any thoughts on this subject would be welcome. Thanks in advance.

PS. I'm currently leaning towards standardizing on the Foo and FooOrNull naming scheme, but wanted to hear other opinions before I commit to it.

[davidfowl]

I think it depends on what method existed first and if nullability was designed into the API from the get go. Personally, I've been using GetFoo and GetRequiredFoo.

[En3Tho]

Sometimes I just use Try* prefix. Yeah it's kinda occupied by bool + out T pattern but pattern matching wise it's much nicer to return T?

Also it's somewhat inspired by F# where Try* thingies return Option of T

The problem is that if you want to be consistent with api that is already there you kinda have to adhere to the naming used there or else it will look ugly.

So maybe all of these are good options.

[RenderMichael]

When it comes to the FirstOrNull and FirstOrNullStruct methods, see dotnet/csharplang#6308 and add a reaction if you're in support of how it would simplify your naming convention

[TahirAhmadov]

Thank you, I already saw and voted up that proposal.