XOM API for Processing XML with Java

[Elliotte Rusty Harold <elharo AT metalab.unc.edu>]

At 8:17 PM -0500 1/17/03, Elliotte Rusty Harold wrote:
> Going over old messages about XOM, I thought I had fixed the
> problems with class loading and type safety in the
> Attribute.Type inner class. Turns out I was wrong.
> Here's the currnet equals() method:
>
>         public boolean equals(Object o) {
>             if (o == this) return true;
>             if (!(o instanceof Type)) return false;
>             Type t = (Type) o;
>             return t.type == this.type;
>         }


On further reflection, I've figured out a relatively clean way to do 
this. As well as comparing the class and package names, I have to 
compare the hash codes.  I have to use the hashCode() because I need 
a method in Object that's guaranteed to be available to both versions 
of the Attribute.Type class.

I just hope none of my students catch me doing this. Every semester I 
take off lots of points on homework from students who implement 
equals by comparing the results of either hahsCode() or toString() 
instead of implementing the equals() method directly. :-)
--

+-----------------------+------------------------+-------------------+
| Elliotte Rusty Harold | elharo AT metalab.unc.edu | Writer/Programmer |
+-----------------------+------------------------+-------------------+
|           Processing XML with Java (Addison-Wesley, 2002)          |
|              http://www.cafeconleche.org/books/xmljava             |
| http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D0201771861/cafeaulaitA  |
+----------------------------------+---------------------------------+
|  Read Cafe au Lait for Java News:  http://www.cafeaulait.org/      |
|  Read Cafe con Leche for XML News: http://www.cafeconleche.org/    |
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