Let's say I have two char variables, and later on I want to concatenate them into a string. This is how I would do it:

char c1, c2;
// ...

String s = "" + c1 + c2;

I've seen people who say that the "" + "trick" is "ugly", etc, and that you should use String.valueOf or Character.toString instead. I prefer this construct because:

• I prefer using language feature instead of API call if possible
  • In general, isn't the language usually more stable than the API?
  • If language feature only hides API call, then even stronger reason to prefer it!
    • More abstract! Hiding is good!
• I like that the c1 and c2 are visually on the same level
  • String.valueOf(c1) + c2 suggests something is special about c1
• It's shorter.

Is there really a good argument why String.valueOf or Character.toString is preferrable to "" +?

Trivia: in java.lang.AssertionError, the following line appears 7 times, each with a different type:

    this("" + detailMessage);