Overriding the equals Method

• Notion of equality depends on class
• Common definition: compare all fields
  

  public class Employee 
  { 
     public boolean equals(Object otherObject) 
        // not complete--see below 
     { 
        Employee other = (Employee)otherObject; 
        return name.equals(other.name) 
           && salary == other.salary; 
     } 
     ... 
  } 
  

• Must cast the Object parameter to subclass
• Use == for primitive types, equals for object fields