(Item 11) Comparable

(Item 11) Comparable

Why: by implementing comparable, your class can interoperate with many generic algorithms.

Contract: compare the object with another, return a negative integer, zero, or positive integer

 

Classes that depends on comparison

Sorted collection

TreeSet

TreeMap

Utility classes: Collections and Arrays

 

//Sample Code, for PhoneNumber class above

public int compareTo(Object o) {

    PhoneNumber pn = (PhoneNumber)o;

 

    // Compare area codes

    if (areaCode < pn.areaCode)

        return -1;

    if (areaCode > pn.areaCode)

        return  1;

        // Area codes are equal, compare exchanges

    if (exchange < pn.exchange)

        return -1;

    if (exchange > pn.exchange)

        return  1;

 

    // Area codes and exchanges are equal, compare extensions

    if (extension < pn.extension)

        return -1;

    if (extension > pn.extension)

        return  1;

 

    return 0;  // All fields are equal

}