Rails does what he mentions ... [shell] ./script/console Loading development environment (Rails 2.3.3) >> nil.blank? => true >> "".blank? => true

Rails does what he mentions ... [shell] ./script/console Loading development environment (Rails 2.3.3) >> nil.blank? => true >> "".blank? => true >> [].blank? => true >> {}.blank? => true It lets you write cleaner code in situations when you don't care if an object is empty data or a nil. Avoiding the "whiney nils" ruby has a reputation for. instead of if myobj && myobj.size == 0 then :blah end you can write if myobj.blank? then :blah end makes me miss perl though