How to check if a string is empty in python?

[John Machin]

On May 5, 12:19 pm, a... at mac.com (Alex Martelli) wrote:
> Larry Bates <larry.ba... at websafe.com> wrote:
>
>    ...
>
> > Isn't deprecated like depreciated but not quite to zero yet?
>
> No.  "To deprecate" comes from a Latin verb meaning "to ward off a
> disaster by prayer"; when you're saying you deprecate something, you're
> saying you're praying for that something to disappear, go away; in a
> secular context, you're earnestly imploring people to NOT do it.
>
> "To depreciate" comes from a Latin verb meaning "to reduce the price";
> when you're saying you depreciate something, you're saying you put on
> that something a lower price (and, by extension, a lower value) than it
> has (or, more commonly, used to have).  You're not necessarily saying
> it's worth nothing at all (accountants sometimes deem an asset "fully
> depreciated" to mean something close to that, but the adverb "fully" is
> crucial to this meaning), just that it's worth "less than before".

Seeing this thread has already deteriorated [another word with Latin
ancestry, not to be conflated with "posteriorated"] to the level of a
debate about how many angels can stand shoulder-to-shoulder between
the quotes surrounding the repr of an empty string, I presume it's OK
if I remark that a "fully depreciated" asset is one that has a *book*
value of zero [essentially that the whole of its original cost has
been written off (i.e. claimed as a tax deduction)] , and that this
has absolutely nothing to do with the true worth of the asset.




>
> The two terms got somewhat entwined, no doubt because their spelling is
> so similar (even though etimology and pronunciation are poles apart),
> but the "correct" meanings and usage are still well distinct.
>
> Alex