Option<T> for explicit null handling

Rust has no null. Instead, Option<T> represents a value that might be absent. It's an enum with two variants: Some(T) and None. You must explicitly handle both cases with match, if let, or combinator methods like .map() and .unwrap_or(). This eliminates null pointer exceptions at compile time. I use Option for optional struct fields, return values from lookups, and any value that might not exist. The ? operator works with Option too, propagating None early. The standard library provides rich combinators (.and_then(), .or_else(), .filter()) that let you chain transformations functionally. This design makes absence explicit and forces you to handle it correctly.