Is extending String class with IsNullOrEmpty confusing?

Question

Everyone knows and love String.IsNullOrEmpty(yourString) method.

I was wondering if it\'s going to confuse developers or make code better if we extend String class t

Answer 1

I think the root of this problem is what Jon Skeet has mentioned in the list of things he hates in his favorite language (C#): C# should not have imported all extension methods in a whole namespace automatically. This process should have been done more explicitly.

My personal opinion about this specific question is (since we can't do anything about the above fact) to use the extension method if you want. I don't say it won't be confusing, but this fact about extension methods (that can be called on null references) is a global thing and doesn't affect only String.IsNullOrEmpty, so C# devs should get familiar with it.

By the way, it's fortunate that Visual Studio clearly identifies extension methods by (extension) in the IntelliSense tooltip.