Compares its two arguments for order. Returns a negative integer, zero, or
a positive integer as the first argument is less than, equal to, or greater
than the second.
The implementor must ensure that sgn(compare(x, y)) == -sgn(compare(y, x))
for all x and y. (This implies that compare(x, y) must throw an exception
if and only if compare(y, x) throws an exception.)
The implementor must also ensure that the relation is transitive:
((compare(x, y)>0) && (compare(y, z)>0)) implies compare(x,
z)>0.
The implementer must also ensure that x.equals(y) implies that compare(x,
y) == 0. Note that the converse is not necessarily true.
Finally, the implementer must ensure that compare(x, y) == 0 implies that
sgn(compare(x, z)) == sgn(compare(y, z)), for all z.
- Specified by:
compare in interface Comparator<Term>
- Returns:
- a negative integer, zero, or a positive integer as the first
argument is less than, equal to, or greater than the second.
- Throws:
ClassCastException - the arguments' types prevent them from being compared by this
Comparator.- Since:
- JDK1.2