Why Avoid Comparing Integers in Java using == Operator? Example

Java 5 introduced auto-boxing which automatically converts int to Integer and because of that many Java developers started writing code for comparing int variable to Integer object and Integer to Integer using == operator. You should avoid that because it can create subtle bugs in your program because it only works for a particular range of integers and not for all. There is another problem as well when you compare the int variable to the Integer object using == operator, the Integer object is converted to a primitive value. This can throw a null pointer exception if the Integer object is null, which can crash your program.