Recipe to avoid concatenating with empty String to perform type conversion

[greg-at-moderne]

What problem are you trying to solve?

Code readability and possibly performance when using the "" + ... trick to convert something to a String.
String.valueOf() is a better alternative.

Describe the situation before applying the recipe

"" + 1

Describe the situation after applying the recipe

String.valueOf(1)

OSS repro

• https://github.com/encryptedsystems/Clusion/blob/d6f89c1269f618ec42a9bfc42e940382fa14ae69/src/main/java/org/crypto/sse/DynRR.java#L47
• https://github.com/xebialabs/overcast/blob/8a494dc8f8572ae337ce91b06829eb9567c91f5d/src/main/java/com/xebialabs/overcast/host/CachedLibvirtHost.java#L57

[Akanksha928]

Hi! I'd like to work on this issue. Let me know if it's still available. Thanks!

[greg-at-moderne]

It sure is. I suggest you start with forking the repo, creating a branch with unit test with a few cases showing the desired behavior.

[timtebeek]

Here's a quick first attempt:

• Replace empty String concatenation with String.valueOf() #634

[Akanksha928]

Just to clarify, since the PR #634 is now open and seems to fully address this, should I consider this issue closed or still open for contribution?

[timtebeek]

No need to start a parallel effort, thanks! Any suggestions on how to handle (or skip) chained concatenations on #634 appreciated!