Using Tuples for Overriding Equality and GetHashCode

Overriding Objects

The implementation of Equals() and GetHashCode() used to be complex, but with C# 7.0 Tuples, the actual code is boilerplate.

• For Equals(): It’s necessary to compare all the contained identifying data structures while avoiding infinite recursion or null reference exceptions.
• For GetHashCode(): It’s necessary to combine the unique hash code of each of the non-null contained identifying data structures in an exclusive OR operation.

With C# 7.0 tuples, overriding Equals() and GetHashCode() turns out to be quite simple as demonstrated in Figure 1.

public struct Arc {
  public Arc(double radius, double startAngle, double sweepAngle) {
    Radius = radius;
    StartAngle = startAngle;
    SweepAngle = sweepAngle;
  }
  public double Radius;
  public double StartAngle;
  public double SweepAngle;
  public double Length {
    get {
      return Math.Abs(StartAngle - SweepAngle) /
        360 * 2 * Math.PI * Radius;
    }
  }
  public void Rotate(double degrees) {
    StartAngle += degrees;
    SweepAngle += degrees;
  }
  // override object.Equals
  public override bool Equals(object obj) {
    return (obj is Arc) &&
      Equals((Arc) obj);
  }
  // Implemented IEquitable<T>
  public bool Equals(Arc arc) {
    return (Radius, StartAngle, SweepAngle).Equals(
      (arc.Radius, arc.StartAngle, arc.SweepAngle));
  }
  // override object.GetHashCode
  public override int GetHashCode() =>
    (Radius, StartAngle, SweepAngle).GetHashCode();
  public static bool operator == (
    Arc lhs, Arc rhs) => lhs.Equals(rhs);
  public static bool operator != (
    Arc lhs, Arc rhs) => !lhs.Equals(rhs);
}Code language: PHP (php)

For Equals, one member can check that the type is the same, while a second member groups each of the identifying members into a tuple and compares them to the target parameter of the same type, like this:

public bool Equals(Arc arc) =>

return (Radius, StartAngle, SweepAngle).Equals(

(arc.Radius, arc.StartAngle, arc.SweepAngle));Code language: PHP (php)

One might argue that the second function could be more readable if each identifying member were explicitly compared, instead. But, I leave that for the reader to arbitrate. That said, note that internally the tuple (System.ValueTuple<…>) uses EqualityComparer<T>, which relies on the type parameters implementation of IEquatable<T> (which only contains a single Equals<T>(T other) member).

Therefore, to correctly override Equals, you need to follow the guideline:

DO implement IEquatable<T> when overriding Equals.

That way your own custom data types will leverage your custom implementation of Equals() rather than Object.Equals().

Perhaps the more compelling of the two overloads is GetHashCode() and its use of the tuple. Rather than engage in the complex gymnastics of an exclusive OR operation of the non-null identifying members, you can simply instantiate a tuple of all identifying members and return the GetHashCode() value for the said tuple.  Like so:

public override int GetHashCode() => return (Radius, StartAngle, SweepAngle).GetHashCode();

In summary, C# 7.0’s new tuple type provides a great shortcut to overriding object‘s Equals() and GetHashCode() members.