Java: Duplicate objects getting added to set?

Question

If I run the below code then the output is 2 which means that the set contains 2 elements. However I think that set should contain 1 since both the objects are equal based on hashcode() value as well as .equals() method. Seems like some obvious mistake in my understanding ?

package HELLO;

import java.util.HashSet;
import java.util.Set;

public class Test {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        Set<Alpha> s = new HashSet<Alpha>();
        Alpha a1 = new Alpha();
        Alpha a2 = new Alpha();
        s.add(a1);
        s.add(a2);
        System.out.println(s.size());
    }
}   

class Alpha {
    int a = 10;

    public int hashcode() {
        return a;
    }

    public boolean equals(Object obj) {
        return (obj instanceof Alpha && ((Alpha) obj).a == this.a);
    }

    public String toString() {
        return "Alpha : " + a;
    }
}

Answer 1

Your hashcode method does not override the Object class's hashCode method and thus your equals method breaks contract since it doesn't agree with the hashCode results, and you can have objects that are "equal" but have different hashCodes.

Remember: You should always use the @Override annotation when overriding methods as this will help you catch this and similar errors.

@Override  // ** don't forget this annotation
public int hashCode() { // *** note capitalization of the "C"
  return a;
}

Also, you will want to improve your code formatting, especially when posting code here for our review. We will be able to better understand your code and help you if it conforms to standards (that's why standards exist). So try to keep your indentations consistent with all code lines that are in the same block indented at the same level, and you will want to be sure that base level code, including imports, outer class declarations and its end curly brace, is flush left:

import java.util.HashSet;
import java.util.Set;

public class Test {

   public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
      Set<Alpha> s = new HashSet<Alpha>();
      Alpha a1 = new Alpha();
      Alpha a2 = new Alpha();
      s.add(a1);
      s.add(a2);
      System.out.println(s.size());
   }
}

class Alpha {
   int a = 10;

   @Override
   public int hashCode() {
      return a;
   }

   public String toString() {
      return "Alpha : " + a;
   }

   @Override
   public boolean equals(Object obj) {
      if (this == obj)
         return true;
      if (obj == null)
         return false;
      if (getClass() != obj.getClass())
         return false;
      Alpha other = (Alpha) obj;
      if (a != other.a)
         return false;
      return true;
   }
}

For a beautiful review on this, please read: Overriding equals and hashCode in Java