c# - Equality and polymorphism

Question

With two immutable classes Base and Derived (which derives from Base) I want to define Equality so that

• equality is always polymorphic - that is ((Base)derived1).Equals((Base)derived2) will call Derived.Equals

• operators == and != will call Equals rather than ReferenceEquals (value equality)

What I did:

class Base: IEquatable<Base> {
  public readonly ImmutableType1 X;
  readonly ImmutableType2 Y;

  public Base(ImmutableType1 X, ImmutableType2 Y) { 
    this.X = X; 
    this.Y = Y; 
  }

  public override bool Equals(object obj) {
    if (object.ReferenceEquals(this, obj)) return true;
    if (obj is null || obj.GetType()!=this.GetType()) return false;

    return obj is Base o 
      && X.Equals(o.X) && Y.Equals(o.Y);
  }

  public override int GetHashCode() => HashCode.Combine(X, Y);

  // boilerplate
  public bool Equals(Base o) => object.Equals(this, o);
  public static bool operator ==(Base o1, Base o2) => object.Equals(o1, o2);
  public static bool operator !=(Base o1, Base o2) => !object.Equals(o1, o2);    }

Here everything ends up in Equals(object) which is always polymorphic so both targets are achieved.

I then derive like this:

class Derived : Base, IEquatable<Derived> {
  public readonly ImmutableType3 Z;
  readonly ImmutableType4 K;

  public Derived(ImmutableType1 X, ImmutableType2 Y, ImmutableType3 Z, ImmutableType4 K) : base(X, Y) {
    this.Z = Z; 
    this.K = K; 
  }

  public override bool Equals(object obj) {
    if (object.ReferenceEquals(this, obj)) return true;
    if (obj is null || obj.GetType()!=this.GetType()) return false;

    return obj is Derived o
      && base.Equals(obj) /* ! */
      && Z.Equals(o.Z) && K.Equals(o.K);
  }

  public override int GetHashCode() => HashCode.Combine(base.GetHashCode(), Z, K);

  // boilerplate
  public bool Equals(Derived o) => object.Equals(this, o);
}

Which is basically the same except for one gotcha - when calling base.Equals I call base.Equals(object) and not base.Equals(Derived) (which will cause an endless recursion).

Also Equals(C) will in this implementation do some boxing/unboxing but that is worth it for me.

My questions are -

First is this correct ? my (testing) seems to suggest it is but with C# being so difficult in equality I'm just not sure anymore .. are there any cases where this is wrong ?

and Second - is this good ? are there better cleaner ways to achieve this ?

Answer 1

Well I guess there are two parts to you problem:

1. executing equals at nested level
2. restricting to the same type

Would this work? https://dotnetfiddle.net/eVLiMZ (I had to use some older syntax as it didn't compile in dotnetfiddle otherwise)

using System;


public class Program
{
    public class Base
    {
        public string Name { get; set; }
        public string VarName { get; set; }

        public override bool Equals(object o)
        {
            return object.ReferenceEquals(this, o) 
                || o.GetType()==this.GetType() && ThisEquals(o);
        }

        protected virtual bool ThisEquals(object o)
        {
            Base b = o as Base;
            return b != null
                && (Name == b.Name);
        }

        public override string ToString()
        {
            return string.Format("[{0}@{1} Name:{2}]", GetType(), VarName, Name);
        }

        public override int GetHashCode()
        {
            return Name.GetHashCode();
        }
    }

    public class Derived : Base
    {
        public int Age { get; set; }

        protected override bool ThisEquals(object o)
        {
            var d = o as Derived;
            return base.ThisEquals(o)
                && d != null
                && (d.Age == Age);
        }

        public override string ToString()
        {
            return string.Format("[{0}@{1} Name:{2} Age:{3}]", GetType(), VarName, Name, Age);
        }

        public override int GetHashCode()
        {
            return base.GetHashCode() ^ Age.GetHashCode();
        }
    }

    public static void Main()
    {
        var b1 = new Base { Name = "anna", VarName = "b1" };
        var b2 = new Base { Name = "leo", VarName = "b2" };
        var b3 = new Base { Name = "anna", VarName = "b3" };
        var d1 = new Derived { Name = "anna", Age = 21, VarName = "d1" };
        var d2 = new Derived { Name = "anna", Age = 12, VarName = "d2" };
        var d3 = new Derived { Name = "anna", Age = 21, VarName = "d3" };

        var all = new object [] { b1, b2, b3, d1, d2, d3 };

        foreach(var a in all) 
        {
            foreach(var b in all)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("{0}.Equals({1}) => {2}", a, b, a.Equals(b));
            }
        }
    }
}