Is there a shorthand way to return values that might be null?
Using null-coalescing operator ( ?? ): get { _rows = _rows ?? new List<Row>(); return _rows; } OR (less readable): get { return _rows ?? (_rows = new List<Row>()); } The ?? operator is called the null-coalescing operator. It returns the left-hand operand if the operand is not null; otherwise it returns the right hand …