Comparison between variables pointing to same Integer object

Question

The output of current program is \"Strange\". But both the variables share the same reference. Why are the second and third comparisons not true?

Integer a;
         


        

Answer 1

• Strage - it's obvious, the two variables point to the same object

• not Stranger because of autoboxing. Integer is immutable, so each operation on it creates a new instance.

• not Strangest, because of the previous point, and because you have used new Integer(..) which ignores the cache that is used for the byte range. If you use Integer.valueOf(2) initially, then the cached Integers will be used and Strangest will also be printed.