Why equals and hashCode were defined in Object?

Question

What\'s the reasoning behind decision to include these methods in the java.lang.Object? Equality and hashing doesn\'t make sense for many classes.

It would be more l

Answer 1

Originally, in Java, there were no generics. This was worked around by allowing any Object to be a member of any collection, and thus any Object needed hashCode and equals. By now it's too entrenched to change.