Properties or fields in Equals and GetHashCode?

Question

I'm using a mix of Jon Skeet's GetHashCode and the MSDN Guidelines for Overloading Equals to implement my Equals and GetHashCode methods. However, one thing has been bothering me.

Should I implement them checking against the actual fields in the class, or their properties?

Furthermore, what about a parent class's properties with fields that are private (thus I can't access them) - should I be checking those as well, and then should I check them via their properties?

it depends on your definition of equals. – Daniel A. White Mar 01 '12 at 15:45 — Daniel A. White, Mar 01 '12 at 15:45

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 01 '12 at 15:48

1

I guess I'll make my comment an answer.

It really depends on your definition of equals on how detailed you should implement it. Properties are nothing more than over-glorified fields. I probably wouldn't hash a read-only, calculated property.

answered Mar 01 '12 at 15:48

Daniel A. White

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Properties or fields in Equals and GetHashCode?

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