Effective Java

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CHAPTER 9
GENERAL PROGRAMMING
276
Item 62: Avoid strings where other types are more appropriate
Strings are designed to represent text, and they do a fine job of it. Because strings
are so common and so well supported by the language, there is a natural tendency
to use strings for purposes other than those for which they were designed. This
item discusses a few things that you shouldn’t do with strings.
Strings are poor substitutes for other value types.
When a piece of data
comes into a program from a file, from the network, or from keyboard input, it is
often in string form. There is a natural tendency to leave it that way, but this ten-
dency is justified only if the data really is textual in nature. If it’s numeric, it
should be translated into the appropriate numeric type, such as 
int
, 
float
, or
BigInteger
. If it’s the answer to a yes-or-no question, it should be translated into
an appropriate enum type or a 
boolean
. More generally, if there’s an appropriate
value type, whether primitive or object reference, you should use it; if there isn’t,
you should write one. While this advice may seem obvious, it is often violated.