RFR: 8324718: Add a static function to java.util.Objects to simplify object equality checks [v6]

[David Alayachew]

On Sat, 27 Jan 2024 15:36:59 GMT, Chen Liang <liach at openjdk.org> wrote:

>> David Alayachew has updated the pull request incrementally with one additional commit since the last revision:
>> 
>>   Rather than reiterating the precondition, let's explain why the method failed
>
> I fail to see the point of this new API. Existing `ObjectMethods::bootstrap` already achieves the same functionality in a better way (though the user code looks a bit more conplex), as its produced MethodHandle can be stored in a static final field and constant-fold by the JIT, while this method's argument array can't as Java arrays are not constants, and this method is polymorphic.

Hello @liach,

Thank you for your response!

> I fail to see the point of this new API. Existing `ObjectMethods::bootstrap` already achieves the same functionality in a better way (though the user code looks a bit more conplex), as its produced MethodHandle can be stored in a static final field and constant-fold by the JIT, while this method's argument array can't as Java arrays are not constants, and this method is polymorphic.

`ObjectMethods::bootstrap` is a better fit for records, but I don't see how it could apply to general classes. Maybe you are saying a new method should instead be made on `ObjectMethods` that does something similar to the `bootstrap` method, but for classes?

Regardless, the goal of this API was to provide functionality very similar to `java.util.Comparator`, where you can provide an ad-hoc set of functions to define your comparison logic. This method is the same thing, but for equality instead.

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PR Comment: https://git.openjdk.org/jdk/pull/17603#issuecomment-1913196411