Extension Methods - IsNull and IsNotNull, good or bad use?

Question

I like readability.

So, I came up with an extension mothod a few minutes ago for the (x =! null) type syntax, called IsNotNull. Inversly, I also created a IsNull extension method, thus

if(x == null) becomes if(x.IsNull())

and

if(x != null) becomes if(x.IsNotNull())

However, I'm worried I might be abusing extension methods. Do you think that this is bad use of Extenion methods?

Answer 1

I don't find that incredibly useful, but this:

someString.IsNullOrBlank()    // Tests if it is empty after Trimming, too
someString.SafeTrim()         // Avoiding Exception if someString is null

because those methods actually save you from having to do multiple checks. but replacing a single check with a method call seems useless to me.

Answer 2

It doesn't seem any more readable and could confuse people reading the code, wondering if there's any logic they're unaware of in those methods.

I have used a PerformIfNotNull(Func method) (as well as an overload that takes an action) which I can pass a quick lambda expression to replace the whole if block, but if you're not doing anything other than checking for null it seems like it's not providing anything useful.