TIOBE - Java Coding Standard

Rule: StringandStringBuffer6

Synopsis:	This is an inefficient use of StringBuffer.toString; call StringBuffer.length instead
Language:	Java
Severity Level:	6
Category:	StringandStringBuffer

Description:

Use StringBuffer.length() to determine StringBuffer length rather than using StringBuffer.toString().equals("") or StringBuffer.toString().length() ==.

public class Foo {
 void bar() {
  StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
  // this is bad
  if(sb.toString().equals("")) {}
  // this is good
  if(sb.length() == 0) {}
 }
}