Here is a real life sample. Note that String
also implements Comparable
.
class Author implements Comparable<Author>{
String firstName;
String lastName;
@Override
public int compareTo(Author other){
// compareTo should return < 0 if this is supposed to be
// less than other, > 0 if this is supposed to be greater than
// other and 0 if they are supposed to be equal
int last = this.lastName.compareTo(other.lastName);
return last == 0 ? this.firstName.compareTo(other.firstName) : last;
}
}
later..
/**
* List the authors. Sort them by name so it will look good.
*/
public List<Author> listAuthors(){
List<Author> authors = readAuthorsFromFileOrSomething();
Collections.sort(authors);
return authors;
}
/**
* List unique authors. Sort them by name so it will look good.
*/
public SortedSet<Author> listUniqueAuthors(){
List<Author> authors = readAuthorsFromFileOrSomething();
return new TreeSet<Author>(authors);
}