[jrochkind1]

I think you are confused, `try` is not raise/rescue. The ActiveSupport `try` implementation does not involve allowing an exception to be raised.

https://github.com/rails/rails/blob/v4.2.5/activesupport/lib...

It should be as performant as other ways of checking for nil/empty.

[chrisseaton]

Ah yes you're right - I was confusing this with raise/rescue.