它在使用值对象时很有用。以下摘自Portland Pattern Repository:

Examples of value objects are things like numbers, dates, monies and strings. Usually, they are small objects which are used quite widely. Their identity is based on their state rather than on their object identity. This way, you can have multiple copies of the same conceptual value object. So I can have multiple copies of an object that represents the date 16 Jan 1998. Any of these copies will be equal to each other. For a small object such as this, it is often easier to create new ones and move them around rather than rely on a single object to represent the date. A value object should always override .equals() in Java (or = in Smalltalk). (Remember to override .hashCode() as well.)

它在使用值对象时很有用。以下摘自Portland Pattern Repository:

Examples of value objects are things like numbers, dates, monies and strings. Usually, they are small objects which are used quite widely. Their identity is based on their state rather than on their object identity. This way, you can have multiple copies of the same conceptual value object. So I can have multiple copies of an object that represents the date 16 Jan 1998. Any of these copies will be equal to each other. For a small object such as this, it is often easier to create new ones and move them around rather than rely on a single object to represent the date. A value object should always override .equals() in Java (or = in Smalltalk). (Remember to override .hashCode() as well.)

为了在HashMap, Hashtable等集合中使用我们自己的类对象作为键。，我们应该通过了解集合的内部工作来重写这两个方法(hashCode()和equals())。否则，它会导致我们意想不到的错误结果。

在下面的例子中，如果您注释掉Person类中equals或hashcode的覆盖，此代码将无法查找Tom的订单。使用哈希码的默认实现可能会导致哈希表查找失败。

下面是一个简化的代码，它按Person提取人们的订单。Person被用作哈希表中的键。

public class Person {
    String name;
    int age;
    String socialSecurityNumber;

    public Person(String name, int age, String socialSecurityNumber) {
        this.name = name;
        this.age = age;
        this.socialSecurityNumber = socialSecurityNumber;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object p) {
        //Person is same if social security number is same

        if ((p instanceof Person) && this.socialSecurityNumber.equals(((Person) p).socialSecurityNumber)) {
            return true;
        } else {
            return false;
        }

    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {        //I am using a hashing function in String.java instead of writing my own.
        return socialSecurityNumber.hashCode();
    }
}


public class Order {
    String[]  items;

    public void insertOrder(String[]  items)
    {
        this.items=items;
    }

}



import java.util.Hashtable;

public class Main {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

       Person p1=new Person("Tom",32,"548-56-4412");
        Person p2=new Person("Jerry",60,"456-74-4125");
        Person p3=new Person("Sherry",38,"418-55-1235");

        Order order1=new Order();
        order1.insertOrder(new String[]{"mouse","car charger"});

        Order order2=new Order();
        order2.insertOrder(new String[]{"Multi vitamin"});

        Order order3=new Order();
        order3.insertOrder(new String[]{"handbag", "iPod"});

        Hashtable<Person,Order> hashtable=new Hashtable<Person,Order>();
        hashtable.put(p1,order1);
        hashtable.put(p2,order2);
        hashtable.put(p3,order3);

       //The line below will fail if Person class does not override hashCode()
       Order tomOrder= hashtable.get(new Person("Tom", 32, "548-56-4412"));
        for(String item:tomOrder.items)
        {
            System.out.println(item);
        }
    }
}

因为如果你不重写它们，你将使用Object中的默认实现。

考虑到实例相等和hascode值通常需要了解组成对象的内容，它们通常需要在类中重新定义，以具有任何有形的意义。

加上@Lombo的答案

什么时候需要重写equals() ?

Object的equals()的默认实现是

public boolean equals(Object obj) {
        return (this == obj);
}

这意味着两个对象将被认为是相等的，只有当他们有相同的内存地址，这将是真的，只有当你是 比较对象本身。

但是，如果两个对象对一个对象具有相同的值，则可能认为它们是相同的 或更多的属性(参考@Lombo的回答中给出的例子)。

所以在这些情况下，你会重写equals()你会给出你自己的相等条件。

我已经成功地实现了equals()，它工作得很好。那么为什么他们要求重写hashCode()呢?

好。只要不在用户定义的类上使用基于“Hash”的集合，就没问题。 但是在将来的某个时候，你可能想要使用HashMap或HashSet，如果你没有覆盖和“正确实现”hashCode()，这些基于Hash的集合将无法正常工作。

只覆盖等于(除了@Lombo的答案)

myMap.put(first,someValue)
myMap.contains(second); --> But it should be the same since the key are the same.But returns false!!! How?

首先，HashMap检查second的hashCode是否与First相同。 只有当值相同时，它才会继续检查同一桶中的相等性。

但这里这两个对象的hashCode是不同的(因为它们具有不同的内存地址-与默认实现不同)。 因此，它甚至不会关心是否相等。

如果在重写的equals()方法中有断点，那么如果它们有不同的hashcode，它就不会介入。 contains()检查hashCode()，只有当它们相同时才调用equals()方法。

为什么我们不能让HashMap检查所有桶是否相等呢?所以我没有必要重写hashCode() !!

那么你就错过了基于哈希的集合的要点。 考虑以下几点:

Your hashCode() implementation : intObject%9.

以下是以桶的形式存储的密钥。

Bucket 1 : 1,10,19,... (in thousands)
Bucket 2 : 2,20,29...
Bucket 3 : 3,21,30,...
...

假设，您想知道映射是否包含键10。 你想把所有的桶都搜一遍吗?或“是否只搜索一个桶?”

根据hashCode，可以确定如果存在10，则它必须存在于Bucket 1中。 所以只有桶1会被搜索!!