How can `Optional` be used in Swift for safe handling of missing or undefined values?

In Swift, Optional is used to safely represent a value that may be absent (i.e., be nil). This helps avoid errors related to accessing non-existent values.

Example of using Optional:

var name: String? = "Ivan"

// Safe extraction of value through optional binding
if let unwrappedName = name {
    print("Name: \(unwrappedName)")
} else {
    print("Name is missing")
}

// Assigning nil
name = nil

Here, name can contain a string or nil. Using the if let construct allows safely obtaining the value if it exists and handling the case when the value is absent.