I am using Java 7, and I have the following class below. I implemented equals
and hashCode
correctly, but the problem is that equals
returns false
in the main method below yet hashCode
returns the same hash code for both objects. Can I get more sets of eyes to look at this class to see if I'm doing anything wrong here?
UPDATE: I replaced the line on which I call the Objects.hash
method with my own hash function: chamorro.hashCode() + english.hashCode() + notes.hashCode()
. It returns a different hash code, which is what hashCode
is supposed to do when two objects are different. Is the Objects.hash
method broken?
Your help will be greatly appreciated!
import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringEscapeUtils;
public class ChamorroEntry {
private String chamorro, english, notes;
public ChamorroEntry(String chamorro, String english, String notes) {
this.chamorro = StringEscapeUtils.unescapeHtml4(chamorro.trim());
this.english = StringEscapeUtils.unescapeHtml4(english.trim());
this.notes = notes.trim();
}
@Override
public boolean equals(Object object) {
if (!(object instanceof ChamorroEntry)) {
return false;
}
if (this == object) {
return true;
}
ChamorroEntry entry = (ChamorroEntry) object;
return chamorro.equals(entry.chamorro) && english.equals(entry.english)
&& notes.equals(entry.notes);
}
@Override
public int hashCode() {
return java.util.Objects.hash(chamorro, english, notes);
}
public static void main(String... args) {
ChamorroEntry entry1 = new ChamorroEntry("Åguigan", "Second island south of Saipan. Åguihan.", "");
ChamorroEntry entry2 = new ChamorroEntry("Åguihan", "Second island south of Saipan. Åguigan.", "");
System.err.println(entry1.equals(entry2)); // returns false
System.err.println(entry1.hashCode() + "\n" + entry2.hashCode()); // returns same hash code!
}
}
1) If two objects are equal (i.e. the equals() method returns true), they must have the same hashcode. 2) If the hashCode() method is called multiple times on the same object, it must return the same result every time. 3) Two different objects can have the same hash code.
hash() can take one or more objects and provides a hashcode for them.
HashCode collisions Whenever two different objects have the same hash code, we call this a collision. A collision is nothing critical, it just means that there is more than one object in a single bucket, so a HashMap lookup has to look again to find the right object.
hashCode() and equals() contract The basic rule of the contract states that if two objects are equal to each other based on equals() method, then the hash code must be the same, but if the hash code is the same, then equals() can return false.
Actually, you happened to trigger pure coincidence. :)
Objects.hash
happens to be implemented by successively adding the hash code of each given object and then multiplying the result by 31, while String.hashCode
does the same with each of its characters. By coincidence, the differences in the "English" strings you used occur at exactly one offset more from the end of the string as the same difference in the "Chamorro" string, so everything cancels out perfectly. Congratulations!
Try with other strings, and you'll probably find that it works as expected. As others have already pointed out, this effect is not actually wrong, strictly speaking, since hash codes may correctly collide even if the objects they represent are unequal. If anything, it might be worthwhile trying to find a more efficient hash, but I hardly think it should be necessary in realistic situations.
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