TIOBE - Java Coding Standard

Rule: Design33

This rule is Obsolete
Synopsis:	Use equals() to compare object references
Language:	Java
Severity Level:	1
Category:	Design

Description:

Use equals() to compare object references; avoid comparing them with ==. This is because equals() compares object values and == only object references. So if the contents of 2 different objects is equal, == returns false.

class Foo {
  boolean bar(Object a, Object b) {
    return a == b;  // might unexpectedly return false
  }
}