You most probably need to override hashCode() , equals(..) and toString() – I won’t go into details when and why, but you need that (ok, just a reminder – always implement hashCode and equals together, and you most likely need to implement these methods if you are going to look up objects of a given class in a hashmap or an arraylist). And you have plenty of options to do it:

Manually implement the methods – that’s sort-of ok for toString() and quite impractical with hashCode() and equals(..) . Unless you are pretty certain that you want a custom, well-considered hash function, then you should rely on another, more practical mechanism

and . Unless you are pretty certain that you want a custom, well-considered hash function, then you should rely on another, more practical mechanism Use the IDE – all IDEs can generate the three methods, asking you to specify the fields you want to base them on. The hash function is usually good enough, and the rest just saves you from the headache of writing boilerplate comparisons, ifs and elses. But when you add a field, you shouldn’t forget to regenerate the methods.

commons-lang – there’s EqualsBuilder , HashCodeBuilder and ToStringBuilder there, which help you write the methods quickly, either with manual append(field).append(field) , or with reflection, e.g. reflectionEquals(..) . Adding a field again requires modifications, and it’s easy to forget that.

, and there, which help you write the methods quickly, either with manual , or with reflection, e.g. . Adding a field again requires modifications, and it’s easy to forget that. guava – very similar to commons-lang, with all the pros and cons. Guava has Objects and MoreObjects , with helper functions for equals(..) and hashCode and a builder for toString() – you still have to manually add/compare each field you want to include.

and , with helper functions for equals(..) and hashCode and a builder for toString() – you still have to manually add/compare each field you want to include. project lombok – it plugs into the compiler and turns some annotations into actual implementations, sparing you writing the biolerplate code completely. For example, if you annotated the class with @EqualsAndHashCode , Lombok will generate the two methods with all the fields in the class (you can customize that). The other annotations are @ToString , @Value (for immutables), @Data (for value-objects). You just have to put a jar on your compile time classpath, and it should work.

Which of these should you use? I generally exclude the manual approach, as well as guava and commons-lang – they require too much manual work for a task that you shouldn’t need to care in 99% of the cases. The reflection option with commons-lang sounds interesting, but also sounds like performance overhead.

I’ve always used the IDE – the only downside of this is that you have to regenerate them. Sometimes you may forget and that may yield unexpected behaviour. But apart from that, it’s quick and robust approach.

Project lombok seems to eliminate the risk of forgetting to regenerate, but that sometimes has another side effect – you may not need to automatically include all new fields, and you can forget to exclude them. But my personal reluctance to use lombok is based on a sort-of a superstition – it does “black magic” by plugging into the compiler. It does work, but it you don’t know how exactly it manages to handle both eclipse compiler, javac, IntelliJ compiler; will it always work with maven, including your CI environment? Will it work through a major/minor compiler version upgrade? Obviously it does, and I have no rational argument against it. And it has some more useful features as well.

So, it’s up to you to pick either of the two approaches. But do not implement it manually, and I don’t think the helper functions/builders are that practical.