org.hecl
Class Compare

java.lang.Object
  org.hecl.Compare

public class Compare
extends java.lang.Object

The Compare class exists to compare things in different ways.

Version:

1.0

Author:

David N. Welton

NUMCOMPARE

public static final int NUMCOMPARE

See Also:

Constant Field Values

STRINGCOMPARE

public static final int STRINGCOMPARE

See Also:

Constant Field Values

PROCCOMPARE

public static final int PROCCOMPARE

See Also:

Constant Field Values

Compare

public Compare()

same

public static boolean same(Thing t1,
                           Thing t2)

same checks if two Things as the same. In case the parameters are ObjectThings, they are the same only if they are identical, for all other Things this function calls compareString to check for sameness.

This subtle difference in comparison is necessary since ObjectThing.toString() may yield the same string representation even when the objects are different (happens i.e. on Nokia 6630 for instances of javax.microeditoion.lcdui.Command.

Parameters:

t1 - a Thing value

t2 - a Thing value

Returns:

boolean indicating sameness.

compareString

public static int compareString(Thing a,
                                Thing b)

compareString compares two Things as strings. This can't fail, because all Things may be represented as strings.

Parameters:

a - a Thing value

b - a Thing value

Returns:

an int value

Throws:

HeclException

compareProc

public static int compareProc(Thing a,
                              Thing b,
                              Interp interp,
                              Thing sortproc)
                       throws HeclException

The compareProc method takes two things to compare, an interpreter, andthe name of a proc to compare the two things with. It puts together a codething, runs it, and returns the result: 0 if the two things are equal, -1 if A is "less than" B, and 1 if 1 if A is "greater than" B.

Parameters:

a - a Thing value

b - a Thing value

interp - an Interp value

sortproc - a Thing value

Returns:

an int value

Throws:

HeclException - if an error occurs