Never use the
== operator on objects, unless you
know they're instance-controlled, like enums are, or if you explicitly need to check for identity. When in doubt, use
equals(). Technically you can also use
compareTo(), but it may be slower and your intention is less clear.
equals() is for equality,
compareTo() is for ordering.
What do you mean by bridge drivers? Please quote where it says you shouldn't use them in production. If this is unrelated to your first question, please start a new topic.
Use One Thread Per Question.