title: How to prevent null check before equals
body: <p>I find stuff like this rather annoying and ugly in <code>equals</code> methods:</p>
  
  <pre><code>if (field == null)
  {
      if (other.field != null)
          return false;
  }
  else if ( ! field.equals(other.field))
      return false;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>In C# I could've done this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>if( ! Object.Equals(field, other.field))
      return false;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Is there something similar in Java, or what is the preferred way to do this kind if thing?</p>