F**k!!!!
My sheer stupidity lead my software group to lose 2 marks :S F**king hell. For the unwary, .hashCode() can, and will return negative values. I relied on it not to, even though I should have realised it will, due to the algorithm used. This had the effect of breaking our system based on the strings entered, which was really f**king bad.
*fumes*
Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry! :(
I will do my best not to make the same stupid f**king mistakes again.
Apologies,
Steve