Difference between these two conditions?

Question

Sorry if my question is silly or not it doesnot matter. But i just want to know what will happen in these two conditions.

public class Test {
    public stat         


        

Answer 1

Second one does not throw NullPointerException. But again it is considered as bad code because it might happen that str is null and you do not detect that bug at this point instead you detect it somewhere else

1. Given a choice prefer 1 since it helps you to find bugs in the program at early stage.

2. Else add check for null if str is null then you will be able to make out are strings really not equal or is second string does not present

   if(str == null){
   //Add a log that it is null otherwise it will create confusion that 
   // program is running correctly and still equals fails
   }
   if("test".equals(str)){
       System.out.println("Before");
   }
   

For first case

    if(str.equals("test")){//Generate NullPointerException if str is null
        System.out.println("After");
    }