how can i compare two method references to see if they are equivalent ? in java serializing them app...

# announcements

[tipsy]

how can i compare two method references to see if they are equivalent ? in java serializing them appears to work, but in kotlin they serialize to different bytearrays

[Andreas Sinz]

@tipsy*point to the same instance-method/function* or are the same reference?

[tipsy]

well, either would work.. but method references create an implementation when they're called (?), so there is nothing really to compare? 🤔

[karelpeeters]

== doesn't work?

[tipsy]

@karelpeeters no

[tipsy]

should it?

[karelpeeters]

I don't know, it's not really clear what you're asking. Can you give some example code?

[tipsy]

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24095875/is-there-a-way-to-compare-lambdas

[tipsy]

i have a map where i register things that fulfill an interface, that can be classes that implement the interface, typed lambda fields of the interface, or method references.

map.put("someString", fieldLambda)
map.put("someString", implementingClass)
map.put("someString", ::methodReference)

i want to be able to get the key based on a value

[karelpeeters]

fun foo() {}
println(::foo == ::foo)

prints true for me.

[karelpeeters]

Do you want to see if the code contained in method references and in lambdas equal each other?

[tipsy]

ideally not, but that's what i had to resort to for java method references at least. that code prints true for me too, i need to find out why it doesn't in my other function 🤔

[Andreas Sinz]

@tipsy if its an instance-method, both need to point to the same instance

[tipsy]

i think some info is lost since it passes through a java method which changes it from a kfunction to an implementation of the interface

[tipsy]

these things make my head hurt though, so i put it aside for the night, thanks for your help