diff --git a/src/generators/map_create.cpp b/src/generators/map_create.cpp
index 7e9e8c6d028..f84c364f066 100644
--- a/src/generators/map_create.cpp
+++ b/src/generators/map_create.cpp
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 #include "scoped_resource.hpp"
 #include "serialization/string_utils.hpp"
 
+#include <cassert>
 
 static lg::log_domain log_config("config");
 #define ERR_CF LOG_STREAM(err, log_config)
@@ -46,6 +47,7 @@ std::string random_generate_map(const std::string& parms, const config &cfg)
 	//the first token is the name of the generator, tokens after
 	//that are arguments to the generator
 	std::vector<std::string> parameters = utils::split(parms, ' ');
+	assert(!parameters.empty()); //we use parameters.front() in the next line.
 	util::scoped_ptr<map_generator> generator(create_map_generator(parameters.front(),cfg));
 	if(generator == NULL) {
 		ERR_CF << "could not find map generator '" << parameters.front() << "'" << std::endl;
diff --git a/src/help.cpp b/src/help.cpp
index ab3dae81197..2bb5321696f 100644
--- a/src/help.cpp
+++ b/src/help.cpp
@@ -958,7 +958,7 @@ void parse_config_internal(const config *help_cfg, const config *section_cfg,
 		} else if ((*section_cfg)["sort_topics"] == "generated") {
 		  sort_topics = false;
 		  sort_generated = true;
-		} else if ((*section_cfg)["sort_topics"] != "") {
+		} else if (!(*section_cfg)["sort_topics"].empty()) {
 		  std::stringstream ss;
 		  ss << "Invalid sort option: '" << (*section_cfg)["sort_topics"] << "'";
 		  throw parse_error(ss.str());
diff --git a/src/multiplayer_wait.cpp b/src/multiplayer_wait.cpp
index 5dedbb0cfc5..3dd410f32be 100644
--- a/src/multiplayer_wait.cpp
+++ b/src/multiplayer_wait.cpp
@@ -463,7 +463,7 @@ void wait::process_network_data(const config& data, const network::connection so
 {
 	ui::process_network_data(data, sock);
 
-	if(data["message"] != "") {
+	if(!data["message"].empty()) {
 		gui2::show_transient_message(disp().video()
 				, _("Response")
 				, data["message"]);
diff --git a/src/saved_game.cpp b/src/saved_game.cpp
index 5fe07e1721f..51fdc680129 100644
--- a/src/saved_game.cpp
+++ b/src/saved_game.cpp
@@ -315,7 +315,7 @@ void saved_game::expand_random_scenario()
 	if(this->starting_pos_type_ == STARTINGPOS_SCENARIO)
 	{
 		// If the entire scenario should be randomly generated
-		if(starting_pos_["scenario_generation"] != "") 
+		if(!starting_pos_["scenario_generation"].empty()) 
 		{
 			LOG_NG << "randomly generating scenario...\n";
 			const cursor::setter cursor_setter(cursor::WAIT);
@@ -331,12 +331,12 @@ void saved_game::expand_random_scenario()
 			update_label();
 		}
 		//it looks like we support a map= where map=filename equals more or less map_data={filename}
-		if(starting_pos_["map_data"].empty() && starting_pos_["map"] != "") {
+		if(starting_pos_["map_data"].empty() && !starting_pos_["map"].empty()) {
 			starting_pos_["map_data"] = read_map(starting_pos_["map"]);
 		}
 		// If the map should be randomly generated
 		// We dont want that we accidently to this twice so we check for starting_pos_["map_data"].empty()
-		if(starting_pos_["map_data"].empty() && starting_pos_["map_generation"] != "") {
+		if(starting_pos_["map_data"].empty() && !starting_pos_["map_generation"].empty()) {
 			LOG_NG << "randomly generating map...\n";
 			const cursor::setter cursor_setter(cursor::WAIT);