Empty VS null array?

[Regan Heath]

On Fri, 18 Oct 2013 17:55:46 +0100, Andrei Alexandrescu  
<SeeWebsiteForEmail at erdani.org> wrote:

> On 10/18/13 9:26 AM, Max Samukha wrote:
>> *That's* bad API design. readln should be symmetrical to writeln, not
>> write. And about preserving the exact representation of new lines,
>> readln/writeln shouldn't preserve that, pure and simple.
>
> Fair point. I just gave one possible alternative out of many. Thing is,  
> relying on client code to distinguish subtleties between empty and null  
> strings is fraught with dangers.

My code does not need to distinguish between empty and null.  null is  
checked for, and empty is just a normal value for a string.  The "problem"  
you're referring to is /casused/ by conflating null and empty, by making  
empty strings "special" in the same way someone might make 0 a special  
value for an int (meaning not specified - for example).

If you stop using empty string as a special case of null, then empty does  
not need special handling - it's just a normal string value handled like  
any other - you can read it, write it, append it, etc etc etc.

null is the /only/ case which needs special handling - just like any other  
reference type.

R

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