Just a quick thank you and comment that information sometimes is useful years later. I used the following tonight in my assignment:
From Marilyn, 5/19/2001:
A null String doesn't really exist. It is only a reference to a spot that may eventually hold a String. It really is a "place holder".
An empty String, on the other hand, is an actual String of zero length (no characters).
If you are never going to use that String (as in a placeholder in an array), use a null. If there's a chance that String will print, you need to initialize that String to "" or "abc" or whatever.