Перевел на английский, как смог, свою хочулку про operator.? и отправил Эрику Липперту (одна из шишек в разработке .net) (блог Эрика Липперта на русском, блог Эрика Липперта(оригинальный))

Ответ был следующий:

--

 --

-- Запрос --

What you think about "operator .?" ?

<object>.?<member>


"operator .?" is equivalent of construction
---
NullMemberType result;
if (<object> != null)
  result = <object>.<member>;
else
  result = null;
--
where MemberType is type of <member> result
where NullMemberType is
  MemberType for case MemberType is class;
  MemberType for case MemberType is Nullable<T>;
  Nullable<MemberType> for case MemberType is struct
  void for case MemberType is void
i.e. for MemberType is void - this operator is equivalent of construction
--
if (<object> != null)
  <object>.<member>();
--


this operator is very needed in script and business logic,
and this operator is realized Null Object Pattern (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Null_Object_pattern)


example of using

now
--
int? age = null;
var root = Root;
if (root != null)
{
  var config = root.Config;
  if (config != null)
  {
    var user = config.User;
    if (user != null)
       age = user.Age;
  }
}
if (age != null && age.Value >= 21) { //bla-bla }
--

whit "operator .?"
--
if (Root.?Config.?User.?Age >= 21) {//bla-bla}
--


now this operator realized is very ugly as
if (Root._no(_ => _.Config)._no(_ => _.User)._nv(_ => _.Age) >= 21) {//bla-bla}




public static class NullableExtensions
{
  public static void _n<TItem>(this TItem item, Action<TItem> func)
  {
    if (item != null)
      func(item);
  }
  public static TResult _no<TItem, TResult>(this TItem item, Func<TItem, TResult> func) where TResult : class
  {
    if (item == null)
      return null;
    return func(item);
  }
  public static TResult? _nv<TItem, TResult>(this TItem item, Func<TItem, TResult?> func) where TResult : struct
  {
    if (item == null)
      return null;
    return func(item);
  }
  public static TResult? _nv<TItem, TResult>(this TItem item, Func<TItem, TResult> func) where TResult : struct
  {
    if (item == null)
      return null;
    return func(item);
  }
}



ps
what is better? "operator.?" or "operator?."