GUI Not working with custom AbstractTableModel. Errors "Unknown Source"

Question

The LinkedList is never initalised...

LinkedList<Student> data = null;
// ... ///
StudentTable.setModel(new StudentTableModel(data));

Meaning that when getRowCount is called, the data object is null, hence the NullPointerException

Updated

You have any number of options that you can use to pass a reference to main LinkedList into the UI, but it will come down to how your work flow works.

You could...

Pass the reference to the UI via it's constructor....

public GUI(Database DB, LinkedList<Student> students) {...}

You could...

Pass the LinkedList in via a method in you GUI class...

public class GUI extends JFrame {

    //...//

    public GUI(Database DB) {...}

    public void setStudent(LinkedList<Student> students) {
        StudentTable.setModel(new StudentTableModel(students));
    }
}

Updated with example

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.util.LinkedList;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JTable;
import javax.swing.UIManager;
import javax.swing.UnsupportedLookAndFeelException;
import javax.swing.table.AbstractTableModel;

public class PassTable {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new PassTable();
    }

    public PassTable() {
        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                try {
                    UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
                } catch (ClassNotFoundException | InstantiationException | IllegalAccessException | UnsupportedLookAndFeelException ex) {
                }

                JFrame frame = new JFrame("Test");
                frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
                frame.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
                frame.add(new TestPane());
                frame.pack();
                frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
                frame.setVisible(true);
            }

        });
    }

    public class TestPane extends JPanel {

        private ExampleTable example;

        public TestPane() {
            setLayout(new BorderLayout());
            example = new ExampleTable();
            add(example);
            JButton add = new JButton("Add");
            add(add, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
            add.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
                @Override
                public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                    LinkedList<Person> people = new LinkedList<Person>();
                    people.add(new Person("A", "A", 1));
                    people.add(new Person("B", "B", 2));
                    people.add(new Person("C", "C", 3));
                    people.add(new Person("D", "D", 4));
                    example.setPeople(people);
                }
            });
        }

    }

    public class ExampleTable extends JPanel {

        private JTable table;

        public ExampleTable() {
            this(new LinkedList<Person>());
        }

        public ExampleTable(LinkedList<Person> people) {
            setLayout(new BorderLayout());
            table = new JTable(new SampleTableModel(people));
            add(new JScrollPane(table));
        }

        public void setPeople(LinkedList<Person> people) {
            table.setModel(new SampleTableModel(people));
        }

    }

    public class SampleTableModel extends AbstractTableModel {

        private LinkedList<Person> data;

        public SampleTableModel(LinkedList<Person> data) {
            this.data = data;
        }

        @Override
        public int getRowCount() {
            return data.size();
        }

        @Override
        public String getColumnName(int column) {
            String name = "";
            switch (column) {
                case 0:
                    name = "First name";
                    break;
                case 1:
                    name = "Last name";
                    break;
                case 2:
                    name = "Age";
                    break;
            }
            return name;
        }

        @Override
        public int getColumnCount() {
            return 3;
        }

        @Override
        public Object getValueAt(int rowIndex, int columnIndex) {
            Object value = null;
            Person person = data.get(rowIndex);
            switch (columnIndex) {
                case 0:
                    value = person.getFirstName();
                    break;
                case 1:
                    value = person.getLastName();
                    break;
                case 2:
                    value = person.getAge();
                    break;
            }
            return value;
        }

    }

    public class Person {
        private String firstName;
        private String lastName;
        private int age;

        public Person(String firstName, String lastName, int age) {
            this.firstName = firstName;
            this.lastName = lastName;
            this.age = age;
        }

        public int getAge() {
            return age;
        }

        public String getFirstName() {
            return firstName;
        }

        public String getLastName() {
            return lastName;
        }

    }

}