def is_(self, other):
        """
        More flexible, faster check like ``is`` but that works through views.

        Note: this is *not* the same as ``Index.identical()``, which checks
        that metadata is also the same.

        Parameters
        ----------
        other : object
            other object to compare against.

        Returns
        -------
        True if both have same underlying data, False otherwise : bool
        """
        # use something other than None to be clearer
        return self._id is getattr(
            other, '_id', Ellipsis) and self._id is not None