Guidelines

What is the main difference between comparable and Comparator?

What is the main difference between comparable and Comparator?

Comparator

Comparable Comparator
Natural Ordering Custom Ordering
Type of Object
Objects in comparison must be of the same type Objects of different classes are considered
Affect on Class

What is comparable and Comparator interface explain with example?

Comparable is meant for objects with natural ordering which means the object itself must know how it is to be ordered. For example Roll Numbers of students. Logically, Comparable interface compares “this” reference with the object specified and Comparator in Java compares two different class objects provided.

Should I use comparable or Comparator?

Comparable should be used when you compare instances of the same class. Comparator can be used to compare instances of different classes. Comparable is implemented by the class which needs to define a natural ordering for its objects. For example, String implements Comparable.

Can we use Comparator without comparable?

You don’t use Comparable . You use Comparator . Comparable is an interface implemented by objects to specify their sort order with other objects of the same type.

How are comparable and comparator interfaces used in Java?

Java provides two interfaces to sort objects using data members of the class: A comparable object is capable of comparing itself with another object. The class itself must implements the java.lang.Comparable interface to compare its instances.

When to use a comparator or an intuitive comparison?

if it is unclear wether your comparison is intuitive, use a Comparator as it’s more explicit and thus more clear for the poor soul who has to maintain the code if there is more than one intuitive comparison possible I’d prefer a Comparator, possibly build by a factory method in the class to be compared.

How to create a comparator class in Java?

Create a class that implements Comparator (and thus the compare() method that does the work previously done by compareTo()). Make an instance of the Comparator class. Call the overloaded sort() method, giving it both the list and the instance of the class that implements Comparator.

How to compare movies by rating in Java?

The sort () method invokes the compare () to sort objects. To compare movies by Rating, we need to do 3 things : Create a class that implements Comparator (and thus the compare () method that does the work previously done by compareTo ()). Make an instance of the Comparator class.