it might be interesting to talk a little more about the original SO post jere. Something like "the fact that so many developers had the gut reaction that foo.A != null ? foo.A : 2 was equivalent to foo.A ?? 2 demonstrates that whether or not you follow this pattern, others will expect that you have followed it". It's always nice to be able to "prove" the value of good style, and I think that the SO thread is great validation of this point.