This PR replaces checks for empty strings ("".equals(...)) with the String#isEmpty method.
This change not only improves readability but also aligns with best practices in Java for string emptiness checking.
Comment From: sbrannen
Thanks for the PR, @alidandach.
We don't normally modify classes in our CGLIB fork; however, we'll make an exception to the rule in this case since the proposed changes align with idiomatic Java and potentially result in a performance improvement (albeit negligible).