How Does Rust Handle Null Values or References?

In Rust, the issue of null or invalid values is handled through the Option type. The Option type is an enum with two variants: Some(T) and None. When a valid value exists, it is represented as Some(value); when no valid value exists (which is similar to null in other languages), it is represented as None. Additionally, Rust ensures that references are always valid through its ownership system. Every reference in Rust must have a valid lifetime, which ensures that the data being referenced is not deallocated during the reference's lifetime. This approach effectively avoids the problem of dangling pointers or wild pointers.