ArrayLists compareTo method, equals method

[random0munky]

Hi, I'm having a little bit of trouble with my compareTo and equals methods. I have implemented Comparable<Book>. The assignment is to Create a library of books and with each book has a title and an ArrayList of authors. The compareTo method should base the comparison on the title field. This is what I have so far:

public int compareTo(Book other) {
	   return myTitle.compareTo(other.myTitle) ;
   }

The equals method should compare Books base on their title and authors. This is what I have so far:

public boolean equals(Object o) {
	   boolean flag = false ;
	   Book book = (Book) o ;
	   if (book.myTitle == myTitle) {
		   flag = true ;
	   }
	return flag ;
	   
	   }

I have not implemented the authors in the equals method, have not gone that far with it.

I sort of understand what the compareTo method and equals method is doing, but not really at the same time. If anybody can shine some light on this. Thank You.

[literallyjer]

Having a class implement Comparable means that instance of that class can have some sort of order. In your case, your Book objects are ordered alphabetically based on their title. Read the API for Comparable for more information on how that works.

Overriding equals imposes an equality on two different objects. That is in your case, a Book is equivalent to another Book if the title and the list of authors is the same.

For example:

Book book1 = new Book(); // title = "Book Title 1"; author = "John Smith";
Book book2 = new Book(); // title = "Book Title 2"; author = "Jane Doe";
Book book3 = new Book(); // title = "Book Title 1"; author = "John Smith";

book1 == book1 // true
book1 == book2 // false
book1.equals(book2) // false
book1.equals(book3) // true
book1 == book3 // false

[random0munky]

Ah okay gotcha alright Imma look up the api and check that out. I'll post more questions if I have any.