Overriding equals() & hashCode() in sub classes ... considering super fields

Is there a specific rule on how Overriding equals() & hashCode() in sub classes considering super fields ?? knowing that there is many parameters : super fields are private/public , with/without getter ...

For instance, Netbeans generated equals() & hashCode() will not consider the super fields ... and

    new HomoSapiens("M", "80", "1.80", "Cammeron", "VeryHot").equals(
    new HomoSapiens("F", "50", "1.50", "Cammeron", "VeryHot"))

will return true :(

public class Hominidae {

    public String  gender;
    public String  weight;
    public String  height;

    public Hominidae(String gender, String weight, String height) {
        this.gender = gender;
        this.weight = weight;
        this.height = height;
    }
    ... 
}

public class HomoSapiens extends Hominidae {
    public String name;
    public String faceBookNickname;

    public HomoSapiens(String gender, String weight, String height, 
                       String name, String facebookId) {
        super(gender, weight, height);
        this.name = name;
        this.faceBookNickname = facebookId;
    }
    ...  
}

If you want to see the Netbeans generated equals() & hashCode() :

public class Hominidae {

    ...

    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object obj) {
        if (obj == null) {
            return false;
        }
        if (getClass() != obj.getClass()) {
            return false;
        }
        final Hominidae other = (Hominidae) obj;
        if ((this.gender == null) ? (other.gender != null) : !this.gender.equals(other.gender)) {
            return false;
        }
        if ((this.weight == null) ? (other.weight != null) : !this.weight.equals(other.weight)) {
            return false;
        }
        if ((this.height == null) ? (other.height != null) : !this.height.equals(other.height)) {
            return false;
        }
        return true;
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
        int hash = 5;
        hash = 37 * hash + (this.gender != null ? this.gender.hashCode() : 0);
        hash = 37 * hash + (this.weight != null ? this.weight.hashCode() : 0);
        hash = 37 * hash + (this.height != null ? this.height.hashCode() : 0);
        return hash;
    }

}


public class HomoSapiens extends Hominidae {

    ...

    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object obj) {
        if (obj == null) {
            return false;
        }
        if (getClass() != obj.getClass()) {
            return false;
        }
        final HomoSapiens other = (HomoSapiens) obj;
        if ((this.name == null) ? (other.name != null) : !this.name.equals(other.name)) {
            return false;
        }
        if ((this.faceBookNickname == null) ? (other.faceBookNickname != null) : !this.faceBookNickname.equals(other.faceBookNickname)) {
            return false;
        }
        return true;
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
        int hash = 7;
        hash = 89 * hash + (this.name != null ? this.name.hashCode() : 0);
        hash = 89 * hash + (this.faceBookNickname != null ? this.faceBookNickname.hashCode() : 0);
        return hash;
    }
}

Solution 1:

Children should not examine the private members of their parents

But obviously, all significant fields should be taken into account for equality and hashing.

Fortunately, you you can easily satisfy both rules.

Assuming you're not stuck using the NetBeans-generated equals and hashcode, you can modify Hominidae's equals method to use instanceof comparison rather than class equality, and then use it straightforwardly. Something like this:

    @Override  
    public boolean equals(Object obj) {  
        if (obj == null) { return false; }  
        if (getClass() != obj.getClass()) { return false; }  
        if (! super.equals(obj)) return false;
        else {
           // compare subclass fields
        }

Of course, hashcode is easy:

    @Override     
    public int hashCode() {     
        int hash = super.hashCode();
        hash = 89 * hash + (this.name != null ? this.name.hashCode() : 0);     
        hash = 89 * hash + (this.faceBookNickname != null ? this.faceBookNickname.hashCode() : 0);     
        return hash;     
    }     

Seriously, though: what's up with NetBeans not taking superclass fields into account by calling the superclass methods?

Solution 2:

I prefer to use EqualsBuilder (and HashcodeBuilder) from the commons-lang package to make my equals() and hashcode() methods a lot easier to read.

Example:

public boolean equals(Object obj) {
 if (obj == null) { return false; }
 if (obj == this) { return true; }
 if (obj.getClass() != getClass()) {
   return false;
 }
 MyClass rhs = (MyClass) obj;
 return new EqualsBuilder()
             .appendSuper(super.equals(obj))
             .append(field1, rhs.field1)
             .append(field2, rhs.field2)
             .append(field3, rhs.field3)
             .isEquals();
}

Solution 3:

Generally speaking implementing equals across subclasses is hard to keep symmetric and transitive.

Consider a superclass that checks for field x and y, and subclass checks for x, y and z.

So a Subclass == Superclass == Subclass where z is different between the first instance of Subclass and the second, violating the transitive part of the contract.

This why the typical implementation of equals will check for getClass() != obj.getClass() instead of doing an instanceof. In the above example, if SubClass or Superclass does an instanceof check it would break symmetry.

So the upshot is that a subclass can certainly take into account super.equals() but should also do its own getClass() check to avoid the above issues and then check for equals on its own fields in addition. It would be a strange duck of a class that changed its own equals behavior based on specific fields of the superclass rather than just if the superclass returns equals.