Add non-nullable modifier to return type of functions never returning null

[vrana]

No description provided.

[codecov]

Codecov Report

Merging #1322 into master will not change coverage.
The diff coverage is n/a.

@@           Coverage Diff           @@
##           master    #1322   +/-   ##
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  Coverage   94.61%   94.61%           
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  Files          33       33           
  Lines        1708     1708           
  Branches      416      416           
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  Hits         1616     1616           
  Misses         92       92

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[keithamus]

Could you please explain the motivation for this change?

[vrana]

In Closure type system, Array actually means Array or null, it's equivalent to ?Array. This removes the null from the return type declaration because the function never returns null. It means that you will be able to assign to a variable declared as !Array.

[keithamus]

Are you aware if these changes have ramifications to other consumers of JSDoc, such as TypeScript? Is this valid JSDoc syntax?

[vrana]

Yes, this is valid JSDoc syntax. https://jsdoc.app/tags-type.html

I believe TS would consume this just fine as it is used in many other projects.