Under VB6 it's faster to check for zero string length than to check for equality to ""

if strDummy.Length < 1
is faster than
if strDummy = ""

Yet I find professionally written code that takes the slow route Is this still true under .NET? I suspect that it is.

Are there other pre .NET truisms that can be verified as applicable or not applicable under .NET? Is there a book on the subject?

Thanks for any help or opinions on the subject.

Richard Waddell

I just did a crude test of string test method comparisons:

10000000 iterations of 'strTestString = ""' completed in 78ms

10000000 iterations of 'strTestString.Length > 0' completed in 62ms

10000000 iterations of 'strTestString.Equals(String.Empty)' completed in 140ms

10000000 iterations of 'strTestString = String.Empty' completed in 328ms

I had to keep increasing the test count till I finally saw some results... started at about 10 million repeats. Given that, I think the method one uses for testing strings is really negligable compared of all the other things one can do to streamline a .NET application.

<opinion>
With the speed of computers, and the strength and speed of the .NET framework, it's probably a much better investment of time and money to study good design techniques. Poor design will have a much larger impact on everything than the nuances of syntax variations.
</opinion>