Java hashCode () and equals () Methods ==================================== The hashCode () and equals () methods have been defined in Object class which is parent class for all java classes. For this ...

The hashCode () and equals () methods have been defined in Object class which is parent class for all java classes. For this reason, all java objects inherit a default implementation of these methods.

I have written posts about using Objects class: JDK 7: The New Objects Class and Java 7 Objects-Powered Compact Equals.

While hashCode () and equals () typically impact logic and performance more than toString () does, they are also often more tricky to implement correctly.