Is CONSTANT.equals(VARIABLE) faster than VARIABLE.equals(CONSTANT)?

Question

I had an interesting conversation with one of my team mate.

Is CONSTANT.equals(VARIABLE) faster than VARIABLE.equals(CONSTANT)in Java?

Answer 1

One good comparison can be:

private static String EXAMPLE = "Example";
private String obj = null;

case 1:

if(obj.equals(EXAMPLE) {
}

This is throw null pointer exception..

case 2 :

if(EXAMPLE.equals(obj)) {
}

This will not throw null pointer exception..