Why is Equals between long and decimal not commutative?

Question

I have this code I run in linqpad:

    long x = long.MaxValue;
    decimal y = x;

    x.Dump();
    y.Dump();

    (x == y).Dump();
    (y == x).Dump();

    Object.Equals(x, y).Dump();
    Object.Equals(y, x).Dump();
    x.Equals(y).Dump();
    y.Equals(x).Dump();

It produces this output:

    9223372036854775807
    9223372036854775807
    True
    True
    False
    False
    False
    True

Note the last two lines: x.Equals(y) is false but y.Equals(x) is true. So the decimal considers itself equal to a long with the same value but the long doesn't consider itself equal to the decimal that has the same value.

What's the explanation for this behavior?

Update:

I accepted Lee's answer.

I was very curious about this and wrote this little program:

using System;
namespace TestConversion
{
  class Program
  {
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
      long x = long.MaxValue;
      decimal y = x;

      Console.WriteLine(x);
      Console.WriteLine(y);

      Console.WriteLine(x == y);
      Console.WriteLine(y == x);

      Console.WriteLine(Object.Equals(x, y));
      Console.WriteLine(Object.Equals(y, x));
      Console.WriteLine(x.Equals(y));
      Console.WriteLine(y.Equals(x));
      Console.ReadKey();
    }
  }
}

Which I then disassembled in IL:

.method private hidebysig static void Main(string[] args) cil managed
{
  .entrypoint
  .maxstack 2
  .locals init (
    [0] int64 x,
    [1] valuetype [mscorlib]System.Decimal y)
  L_0000: nop 
  L_0001: ldc.i8 9223372036854775807
  L_000a: stloc.0 
  L_000b: ldloc.0 
  L_000c: call valuetype [mscorlib]System.Decimal [mscorlib]System.Decimal::op_Implicit(int64)
  L_0011: stloc.1 
  L_0012: ldloc.0 
  L_0013: call void [mscorlib]System.Console::WriteLine(int64)
  L_0018: nop 
  L_0019: ldloc.1 
  L_001a: call void [mscorlib]System.Console::WriteLine(valuetype [mscorlib]System.Decimal)
  L_001f: nop 
  L_0020: ldloc.0 
  L_0021: call valuetype [mscorlib]System.Decimal [mscorlib]System.Decimal::op_Implicit(int64)
  L_0026: ldloc.1 
  L_0027: call bool [mscorlib]System.Decimal::op_Equality(valuetype [mscorlib]System.Decimal, valuetype [mscorlib]System.Decimal)
  L_002c: call void [mscorlib]System.Console::WriteLine(bool)
  L_0031: nop 
  L_0032: ldloc.1 
  L_0033: ldloc.0 
  L_0034: call valuetype [mscorlib]System.Decimal [mscorlib]System.Decimal::op_Implicit(int64)
  L_0039: call bool [mscorlib]System.Decimal::op_Equality(valuetype [mscorlib]System.Decimal, valuetype [mscorlib]System.Decimal)
  L_003e: call void [mscorlib]System.Console::WriteLine(bool)
  L_0043: nop 
  L_0044: ldloc.0 
  L_0045: box int64
  L_004a: ldloc.1 
  L_004b: box [mscorlib]System.Decimal
  L_0050: call bool [mscorlib]System.Object::Equals(object, object)
  L_0055: call void [mscorlib]System.Console::WriteLine(bool)
  L_005a: nop 
  L_005b: ldloc.1 
  L_005c: box [mscorlib]System.Decimal
  L_0061: ldloc.0 
  L_0062: box int64
  L_0067: call bool [mscorlib]System.Object::Equals(object, object)
  L_006c: call void [mscorlib]System.Console::WriteLine(bool)
  L_0071: nop 
  L_0072: ldloca.s x
  L_0074: ldloc.1 
  L_0075: box [mscorlib]System.Decimal
  L_007a: call instance bool [mscorlib]System.Int64::Equals(object)
  L_007f: call void [mscorlib]System.Console::WriteLine(bool)
  L_0084: nop 
  L_0085: ldloca.s y
  L_0087: ldloc.0 
  L_0088: call valuetype [mscorlib]System.Decimal [mscorlib]System.Decimal::op_Implicit(int64)
  L_008d: call instance bool [mscorlib]System.Decimal::Equals(valuetype [mscorlib]System.Decimal)
  L_0092: call void [mscorlib]System.Console::WriteLine(bool)
  L_0097: nop 
  L_0098: call valuetype [mscorlib]System.ConsoleKeyInfo [mscorlib]System.Console::ReadKey()
  L_009d: pop 
  L_009e: ret 
}

You can see indeed that the long value is converted to decimal.

Thank you guys!

Answer 1

This happens because in

y.Equals(x);

the decimal.Equals(decimal) overload is being called since there is an implicit conversion between long and decimal. As a result the comparison returns true.

However, since there is no implicit conversion from decimal to long

x.Equals(y)

calls long.Equals(object) which causes y to be boxed and the comparison returns false since it cannot be unboxed to a long.

Answer 2

Implicit vs Explicit conversions.

From MSDN:

Implicit conversions: No special syntax is required because the conversion is type safe and no data will be lost. Examples include conversions from smaller to larger integral types, and conversions from derived classes to base classes.

Explicit conversions (casts): Explicit conversions require a cast operator. Casting is required when information might be lost in the conversion, or when the conversion might not succeed for other reasons. Typical examples include numeric conversion to a type that has less precision or a smaller range, and conversion of a base-class instance to a derived class.

A long will easily convert to a decimal, but the reverse is not true, so the evaluation fails.