They (also) exist for basic Java strings. aString.equals("SOMETHING") will throw an exception if aString is null, while "SOMETHING".equals(aString) will just r

They (also) exist for basic Java strings. aString.equals("SOMETHING") will throw an exception if aString is null, while "SOMETHING".equals(aString) will just return false. In some cases, that's one 'if' less to write.