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Java Java Data Structures Exploring the Java Collection Framework Meet the JCF

Liron Tal
Liron Tal
4,825 Points
Posted by Liron Tal
Liron Tal
4,825 Points

Equals(What?)

Hi all

Craig is changing the CompareTo code in "Meet The JCF" video.

He does this: " public int compareTo(Treet other) { //Treet other = (Treet) obj; // downcasting obj which is the other Treet if(equals(other)) { // first of all check if objects are the same, and return 0 return 0; }"

Therefore I do not understand what happens now with equals(other)? It compares between...? I debugged the code and it seems that it automatically compares "this" to "other" why is that? And why not using this.equals(other)?

Please assist.

Thanks! Liron

1 Answer

jcorum
jcorum
71,830 Points

In this case this is optional as there's no ambiguity in if(equals(other)) {

There are times when this is not optional, but not here. What is being tested for equality is the current Treet and the one passed in to the compareTo() method.

When the method is called it will be an instance method of a Treet object, say t1. It will be called to compare itself, i.e., t1, to some other Treet object, say t2. And what it does first (after the cast) is see if t1 is equal to t2.