The spec

http://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/javax/script/ScriptEngineFactory.html#getProgram-java.lang.String...-

doesn't say anything about how null args are treated. However at least Nashorn impl throws NPEs. The spec deserves to be clarified regarding expected behavior.

The following lines

        new ScriptEngineManager().getEngineFactories().forEach(f -> f.getProgram(null, null));
        new ScriptEngineManager().getEngineFactories().forEach(f -> f.getProgram((String[])null));

when run on OracleJDK would cause NPEs:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException
at jdk.nashorn.api.scripting.NashornScriptEngineFactory.getProgram(NashornScriptEngineFactory.java:131)


The following JCK9 tests will fail due to this issue:
api/javax_script/ScriptEngineFactory/index.html#GetProgram[test_nullArrayPassed]
api/javax_script/ScriptEngineFactory/index.html#GetProgram[test_nullArrayOfStatements]