What's missing from Phobos for Orbit (package manager)

[Andrei Alexandrescu]

On 2/14/13 3:01 PM, Jacob Carlborg wrote:
> On 2013-02-14 13:42, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
>
>> I understand. Adding functions such as the negation of empty becomes a
>> judgment call.
>>
>> Phobos does have quite a few simple functions that could be easily
>> achieved through expression composition (e.g. trim) or statement
>> composition (e.g. enforce). So again it's all a matter of judgment.
>>
>> Walter and I don't consider the negation of empty as useful enough to
>> receive a name.
>
> How about this, I have another similar function that might be useful in
> Phobos as well.
>
> "isBlank" and "isPresent". "isPresent" is just the opposite of "isBlank".
>
> "isBlank" works like this:
>
> * If it's a string - it's considered blank if it's empty or only
> contains white space
>
> * If you can call "empty" on it - return the result
>
> * If it's a reference type and it's null - return true
>
> * Otherwise return false

I think this is a fine candidate for a standard function. It does actual 
work, is useful, and can't be trivially achieved with inline code.

Andrei