Apache Commons

There are many short methods in the Apache Commons libraries that seem like overkill at first glance, however, their purpose becomes more apparent when you examine the effect that these methods have on the readability of the caller. I see a lot of code that does stuff like this: if( s == null || "".equals(s.trim())) { // Do something } which could be re-written as if( StringUtils.isBlank(s)) { // Do something } Personally, I find it much easier to understand the intent of the second version. [Read More]