What is most effective?

Question

hi,
I was just wondering, what would be the most effective way of doing the following check (assuming request is a valid object)?
1)
String str1=request.getParameter("str1");
if (str1!=null && str1.equals("test") {....or 2)
if (request.getParameter("str1")!=null && request.getParameter("str1").equals("test") {....I have often wondered about this. Would creating a new object, str1, be more resource-consuming than doing one additional method-call?
cheers,
pj

Answer 1

First of all you are not creating a new object. You're creating a new reference variable that holds a reference to the object you request twice in example 2.
From a performance point 1) might be ever so slightly faster (unless of course request.getParameter() does some very extensive calculation in which case it will be much faster, but if this is from a Servlet then that is not the case).
I wouldn't ever make such a micro-optimization from a performance point of few, the gain, if any, is minimal. If however you feel that option 1 is easier to read and/or to understand then go for it.