Why do you want your string to be initialized at all? You don't have to initialize a variable when you declare one, and IMO, you should only do so when the value you are assigning is valid in the context of the code block.
I see this a lot:
string name = null; // or String.Empty
if (condition)
{
name = "foo";
}
else
{
name = "bar";
}
return name;
Not initializing to null would be just as effective. Furthermore, most often you want a value to be assigned. By initializing to null, you can potentially miss code paths that don't assign a value. Like so:
string name = null; // or String.Empty
if (condition)
{
name = "foo";
}
else if (othercondition)
{
name = "bar";
}
return name; //returns null when condition and othercondition are false
When you don't initialize to null, the compiler will generate an error saying that not all code paths assign a value. Of course, this is a very simple example...
Matthijs
