Why does Object.opEquals return int

[Bill Baxter]

Frits van Bommel wrote:
> Bill Baxter wrote:
> 
>>                 Also I you're free to make your own classes return 
>> bool from opCmp, it's just Object opCmp that returns int.
> 
> 
> [You mean opEquals, of course]
> 
> Maybe you forgot that a "bool opEquals" doesn't override Object.opEquals 
> :( .
> This means that any object ever compared as [1], well, an Object will 
> still need to define "int opEquals" or run into a potentially 
> hard-to-spot bug.
> 
> 
> [1]: or /to/, if your "bool opEquals"'s parameter isn't an Object but 
> something else (such as a more derived type, typically that of your class).

Yes, I thought that it was uncommon for derived classes to be concerned 
with comparing against base Objects by value.

--bb