Puzzle (Animal Farm)

Consider the following example

package demo;

public class App {
  public static void main( final String[] args ) {
    final String pig = "length: 10";
    final String dog = "length: " + pig.length();
    System.out.println( "Animals are equal: " + pig == dog );
  }
}

Given that both variables have the string value: length: 10, what would be the outcome of the above example? Will it be Animals are equal: true, Animals are equal: false or something else?

false

This example was taken from PUZZLE 13: ANIMAL FARM in Java™ Puzzlers: Traps, Pitfalls, and Corner Cases.

1. “If you ran the program, you found that it prints false and nothing else. It doesn’t print Animals are equal: . How could it not print this string literal, which is right there in black and white? The + operator, whether used for addition or string concatenation, binds more tightly than the == operator. Therefore, the parameter of the println method is evaluated from left to right.”