fix for NPE

[weih-kahoot]

java.lang.NullPointerException
at org.codehaus.groovy.util.ListHashMap.get(ListHashMap.java:120)
at org.codehaus.groovy.ast.NodeMetaDataHandler.getNodeMetaData(NodeMetaDataHandler.java:44)

[weih-kahoot]

I've seen this NPE occurred for quite a few times, and it's weird the fix is not backported to 4.0.x release branch.
Kindly let me know if the PR can be accepted, :)

[eric-milles]

Is the request just to cherry-pick a commint from master? If so, can you create a JIRA ticket with a quick description so there is tracking for the next Groovy 4 release? Then I can handle the git ops.

[paulk-asert]

After the proposed change, the code will still be prone to a NPE if called with a null 'key'.
What about using the following as the replacement for the condition in question:

Objects.equals(key, listKeys[i])

[weih-kahoot]

@eric-milles sure, I've created ticket https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-11063