Without reading the docs for optional -- would that require the user of the library to depend on guava? The current main user outside of EB is parquet, and that lib has almost no external dependencies to simplify integration. 

On Dec 29, 2013, at 11:20 AM, "P. Oscar Boykin" <notifications@github.com> wrote:

> In core/src/main/java/com/twitter/elephantbird/thrift/TStructDescriptor.java:
> 
> >      public TEnum getEnumValueOf(String name) {
> > -      return enumMap.get(name);
> > +      return enumMap == null ? null : enumMap.get(name);
> why not use Guava Optional here?
> 
> http://docs.guava-libraries.googlecode.com/git/javadoc/com/google/common/base/Optional.html
> 
> —
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