/*

 * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.

 *

 * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it

 * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as

 * published by the Free Software Foundation.  Sun designates this

 * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided

 * by Sun in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.

 *

 * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT

 * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or

 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License

 * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that

 * accompanied this code).

 *

 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version

 * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,

 * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.

 *

 * Please contact Sun Microsystems, Inc., 4150 Network Circle, Santa Clara,

 * CA 95054 USA or visit www.sun.com if you need additional information or

 * have any questions.

 */

 * The Original Code is HAT. The Initial Developer of the

 * Original Code is Bill Foote, with contributions from others

 */

package com.sun.tools.hat.internal.util;

/**

 * Base class for comparison of two objects.

 * @see VectorSorter

 *

 * @author      Bill Foote

 */

abstract public class Comparer {

    /**

     * @return a number <, == or > 0 depending on lhs compared to rhs

     * @see java.lang.String.compareTo

    **/

    abstract public int compare(Object lhs, Object rhs);

}