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| member > instance member > instance method > method that is declared in Object class > equals |
| equals | ||||
| subject | fact | |||
| equals | can be overridden | ![]() |
| has definition A method that compares two objects for equality | ![]() | |
has specification ![]() | ![]() | |
has example boolean b = aPostalCode.equals(anotherPostalCode); | ![]() | |
has purpose to test whether two objects are equal i.e. they contain the same data, but are not necessarily the same object ![]() | ![]() | |
| is a subtopic of Example Methods | ![]() | |
| is an instance of method that is declared in Object class | ![]() | |
| instance method | can operate on the current object's instance variables | ![]() |
| can refer to the object itself using the 'this' keyword | ![]() | |
| has access to every class variable of its class | ![]() | |
| implements the behaviour of the objects in the class | ![]() | |
| is part of a class | ![]() | |
may be declared public, protected or private ![]() | ![]() | |
| should be placed in a class such that there is no needless duplication of it, and such that it is useful in all the subclasses of the class in which it is defined | ![]() | |
| method |
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belongs to a class ![]() | ![]() | |
| can access all instance variables of all objects of its class | ![]() | |
can be inherited by subclasses of its class ![]() | ![]() | |
can be accessed by other methods and variables in any class in the same package by default ![]() | ![]() | |
| can use the super method to invoke a method declared in the superclass | ![]() | |
cannot be passed as an argument to a method or constructor ![]() | ![]() | |
| creates an object by instantiating a class | ![]() | |
| does not return a value if it has a void return type | ![]() | |
| has part method definition | ![]() | |
| has part method signature | ![]() | |
| has part a block of implementation code | ![]() | |
is equivalent to the terms "function member" or "member function" which are used in C++ ![]() | ![]() | |
is equivalent to the terms "routine", "function" or "method" which are used in non object-oriented programming languages ![]() | ![]() | |
may contain empty return statement if it has a void return type ![]() | ![]() | |
| may have access modifier | ![]() | |
must contain return statement unless it has a void return type ![]() | ![]() | |
| must define its parameter list | ![]() | |
| must define its return type | ![]() | |
| overrides a method in a superclass with the same name | ![]() | |
returns a value that is of the return type of the method or a subtype of that type ![]() | ![]() | |
| should be as private as possible | ![]() | |
should not be public except for those that will definitely need to be called from outside the package ![]() | ![]() | |
should return to its caller from only one place which should be the last statement ![]() | ![]() | |
| usually hides instance variables, class variables from other objects | ![]() | |
| access unit | has access mode | ![]() |
| syntactic unit | has syntax rule bold = mandatory | ![]() |
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