Comparing generic elements

[sheriffjt]

Hey guys, I could really use some help, this may seem obvious, but I'm new to Java and this is driving me crazy. I'm writing a generic linked list class with a sort method. The problem I'm running into is comparing the data in the list to sort. How do I compare to generic variables, without knowing which type they are? I can't use normal operators ( I just get 'Operator > cannot be used with E,E'). If I use compareTo(), I'll have to override it and that leaves me writing a method and trying to compare E and E again. I assumed that the most difficult portion of this would be moving the iterator, but I am stuck trying to do the most basic part. Is there something obvious I'm missing? The only examples I can find simply cast the variables to integers, but this seems useless if your input is strings, or vice versa. A nudge in the right direction would be appreciated....

[nspils]

You must design your class to be Comparable (implement the Comparable interface). The list will call the elements' compareTo method to do the comparison and set the order.

Take a look at the Java Tutorial:

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutor...ces/order.html

[Razee Marikar]

As nspils pointed, only the person who writes specific objects would know how to compare them. The implementor of the List would have no idea how to compare them. Because yours is a special list that implements sorting, you should only expect objects that are Comparable (implements Comparable interface).

More specifically, you have to restrict E to be of type Comparable only.

class CList<E extends Comparable> {
// ---- Code here ----	
}

That way, within CList, you can use the compareTo method defined in Comparable within your class (CList here), without casting E.