No, this is not the same as a null pointer. Null pointers are typically much more sneaky, this line means the header will not be written and the error is right in your face.

I do understand the desire to prevent these sorts of errors at the language level, but not at the cost of functionality. I don't agree with this one, but I do (for example) appreciate libraries such as the STL which (hopefully) prevent that pointer issue you brought up (and more). The STL doesn't (often) force me to work around silly limitations though.

Does this library provide for creating arbitrary headers in some other fashion? If not, why?