title: null checked in .equals() method
body: <p>I'm not sure why a null checker in my .equals() method isn't working. It is set up as the following:</p>
  
  <pre><code>public boolean equals(Object other)
  if (other == null)
      return false
  else
      return (this.param == other.param...)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I tried making two objects, 1 with parameters and 1 null and tried the equals method and got the null pointer error. What's wrong?</p>