What is the purpose of the Object class in programming languages?

The Object class in Java is the root class for all other classes. This means that every class in Java implicitly inherits from Object. It provides basic methods that are available to all objects, such as:

• toString() — returns a string representation of the object.
• equals(Object obj) — compares objects for equality.
• hashCode() — returns the hash code of the object.
• getClass() — returns the class of the object.
• clone() — creates a copy of the object (with support for the Cloneable interface).

Thus, the Object class serves as the foundation for all objects and provides a basic set of functionalities that can be overridden in your own classes.