Is using the order of evaluation to check for null values bad practice?

If I wish to perform two checks on a string, that it is not null, and that it is not 0 length, I could do this-

if(string != null) {
    if(string.length() > 0) {
        //Do something
    }
}

Or I could do this

if(string != null && string.length() > 0) {
    //Do something
}

As the first check is executed first, the second comparison doesn't happen and a NullPointerException isn't thrown.

Is the second method guaranteed to work in all cases? And if so, would it be considered bad practice to use it?

Solution

No, it is perfectly fine and guaranteed to work in all cases.