I am going through the java.lang.Object API which states the below the point on objects equality: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/lang/Object.html
public boolean equals(Object obj):
It is generally necessary to override the hashCode method whenever this method is overridden, so as to maintain the general contract for the hashCode method, which states that equal objects must have equal hash codes.
Now to test the above theory on "equal objects must have equal hash codes", I have come up with the below simple code:
public class Product {
private String name;
public Product(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
@Override
public boolean equals(Object obj) {
//always returns true for all objects
return true;
}
@Override
public int hashCode() {
//Different hascodes for different objects
if(name.equals("PRODUCT1")) {
return 10;
} else {
return 20;
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
Product p1 = new Product("PRODUCT1");
Product p2 = new Product("PRODUCT2");
if(p1.equals(p2)) {
System.out.println(" p1 p2 are equal **** ");
} else {
System.out.println(" p1 p2 are NOT equal **** ");
}
HashSet<Product> set = new HashSet<>();
set.add(p1);
set.add(p2);
System.out.println(" size :"+set.size());
}
}
Output:
p1 p2 are equal ****
size : 2
So, isn't the above code violating/contradicting the API statement "equal objects must have equal hash codes" i.e., equal objects need NOT have same hashcodes?
I understand that the compiler can't validate this contract, but doesn't JVM at runtime complain any error/warning stating that equal objects should have different hashcodes?
Am I correct in understanding that the 'equal objects should have same hashcodes' is strictly followed only for performance improvements for huge/large sets of object comparisons and no JRE (no one) complains about the same (except losing performance)? If not, can you help with an example (using hashsets or hashmaps or any hash...) which throws an error by violating the contract along with the error message?
