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/*
* The MIT License (MIT)
*
* Copyright (c) 2007-2024 Daniel Alievsky, AlgART Laboratory (http://algart.net)
*
* Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
* of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
* in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
* to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
* copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
* furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
*
* The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
* copies or substantial portions of the Software.
*
* THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
* IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
* FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
* AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
* LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
* OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
* SOFTWARE.
*/
package net.algart.arrays;
/**
* Comparison interface, designed for comparing elements in some data array.
*
* Unlike the standard java.util.Comparator, the basic method {@link #less(long, long)}
* of this interface works not with data elements, but with their indexes in the array:
* this method should get them from the analysed array itself.
* So, every object, implementing this interface, is supposed to be working with some fixed linear data array.
* The method of storing data in the array can be any; for example, it can be an {@link Array AlgART array}
* or a usual Java array.
* The length of the array is limited only by 263−1 (maximal possible value for long
* indexes).
*
* In {@link JArrays} class you will find implementations of this interface for processing usual Java arrays.
*
* This interface is used by {@link ArraySorter} class.
*
* @author Daniel Alievsky
*/
@FunctionalInterface
public interface ArrayComparator {
/**
* Should return true if, and only if, the element at position first
* in the sorted array is "less" than the element at position second.
* ("Less" element will have less index in the sorted array.)
* The result of this comparison must be fully defined by the values of the elements
* of the sorted array.
*
* @param first index of the first compared element.
* @param second index of the second compared element.
* @return true if, and only if, the element #first is "less"
* than the element #second.
*/
boolean less(long first, long second);
}