thechiselgroup/biomixer — comment on commit d7ea0024188cf7eec12aaaad911593eb2f5499bf
File: src/org/thechiselgroup/biomixer/client/visualization_component/graph/layouts/TreeNode.java line 19
By lgrammel:

assert childrenITemNodes != null is IMHO the better strategy for such situations - I prefer software making an error if there is a programming problem, instead of silently returning. That way, the programmer can learn the API & fix it. In general, I tend to disallow null arguments by default, and explicitly state if null is a valid argument value.