Why are empty collections of different type equal?

What is mechanism below that makes equal different types?

import static org.testng.Assert.assertEquals;


@Test
public void whyThisIsEqual()
assertEquals(new HashSet<>(), new ArrayList<>());



5 Answers
5

The assertEquals(Collection<?> actual, Collection<?> expected) documentation says:

assertEquals(Collection<?> actual, Collection<?> expected)

Asserts that two collections contain the same elements in the same order. If they do not, an AssertionError is thrown.

Thus the content of the collections will be compared which, in case both the collections are empty, are equal.

They are not...

System.out.println(new HashSet<>().equals(new ArrayList<>())); // false


This is specific to testng assertEquals

testng

assertEquals

Looking at the documentation of that method it says:

Asserts that two collections contain the same elements in the same order.

And this is ridiculous to me, a Set does not have an order, per-se.

Set

Set<String> set = new HashSet<>();
set.add("hello");
set.add("from");
set.add("jug");

System.out.println(set); // [from, hello, jug]

IntStream.range(0, 1000).mapToObj(x -> x + "").forEachOrdered(set::add);
IntStream.range(0, 1000).mapToObj(x -> x + "").forEachOrdered(set::remove);

System.out.println(set); // [jug, hello, from]


So comparing these against a Collection at some particular point in time would yield interesting results.

Collection

Even worse, java-9 Set::of methods implement a randomization internally, so the order (or not the order) will be different from run to run.

java-9

Set::of

assetEquals

Object.equals

AssertionError

Testng calls through to a method implemented this way.

public static void assertEquals(Collection<?> actual, Collection<?> expected, String message)
if (actual == expected)
return;


if (actual == null


This is trying to be helpful but is poor for a number of reasons.

Two equals collections can appear to be different.

Set<Integer> a = new HashSet<>();
a.add(82);
a.add(100);
System.err.println(a);
Set<Integer> b = new HashSet<>();
for (int i = 82; i <= 100; i++)
b.add(i);
for (int i = 83; i <= 99; i++)
b.remove(i);
System.err.println(b);
System.err.println("a.equals(b) && b.equals(a) is " + (a.equals(b) && b.equals(a)));
assertEquals(a, b, "a <=> b");


and

Set<Integer> a = new HashSet<>();
a.add(100);
a.add(82);
System.err.println(a);
Set<Integer> b = new HashSet<>(32);
b.add(100);
b.add(82);
System.err.println(b);
System.err.println("a.equals(b) && b.equals(a) is " + (a.equals(b) && b.equals(a)));
assertEquals(a, b, "a <=> b");


prints

[82, 100]
[100, 82]
a.equals(b) && b.equals(a) is true
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.AssertionError: a <=> b: Lists differ at element [0]: 100 != 82
at ....


Two collections can be the same or different depending on how they are compared.

assertEquals(a, (Iterable) b); // passes

assertEquals(a, (Object) b); // passes

assertEquals(Arrays.asList(a), Arrays.asList(b)); // passes


assertSameElements

null == null

Because for collection only content is compared, not collection type.

Rationale behind it is that often some subclass of collection is returned from tested method and is irrelevant what exactly subclass is used.

When I run below code the condition is false.

false

if( (new HashSet<>()).equals(new ArrayList<>()))
System.out.println("They are equal");



Hence for assertEquals, it is true that it only checks elements and its order for equality. But for equals it is false.

assertEquals

equals

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