"Thufir" <hawat.thufir@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:a16210b1-83f6-4088-b331-1f2612779042@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Just trying to learn how Comparator works.
>
> Looking at:
<snip code/>
> I like the line:
>
> Collections.sort(e, SENIORITY_ORDER); //this will sort the collection
> "e" by //SENIORITY_ORDER?
>
> However, how or where is SENIORITY_ORDER ranking defined? I guess
> it's in
>
> return e2.hireDate().compareTo(e1.hireDate()); //neg, zero, pos
>
> which returns either a negative, positive or zero. We're only
> interested in negative results?
Of course, you should read the Javadocs for the Comparator interface, but
in
a nutshell, the compare (a, b) function returns the relative order of the
two items.
If a < b, it should return -1
if a > b it should return +1
if a.equals(b) it should 0
It's up to you to define what "<" means by looking at your own data. The
compareTo function of Comparables (Strings, Numbers, etc all implement
Comparable) uses the same definition, but you can prioritize the data as
you
see fit to determine how you want the order.
Matthew Humphrey http://www.iviz.com/
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