What would be the benefit of using decimal.compare vs. just using a > or < to compare to variables?
+1
A:
In the CLI, decimal is not a native type like Int32, String, and others are. I am guessing that C# uses Compare behind the scenes to implement the comparison operators.
Also, you can pass Compare as a parameter to a sort routine without creating a delegate, reducing the method-nesting levels inside the sort.
That’s a couple of things off the top of my head.
Jeffrey L Whitledge
2008-12-02 15:58:47
No, C# will use the operator overloads - that's what they're there for. Also if you pass Compare as a parameter it *is* creating a delegate - but you're right that you don't need to write the delegate implementation yourself.
Jon Skeet
2008-12-02 16:00:43
So it uses bool [mscorlib]System.Decimal::op_LessThan(valuetype [mscorlib]System.Decimal, valuetype [mscorlib]System.Decimal), etc.? OK, I see what you mean.
Jeffrey L Whitledge
2008-12-02 16:20:31
+4
A:
For one thing it makes it really easier to build a Comparison<decimal> delegate instance:
Comparison<decimal> foo = decimal.Compare;
This is handy to pass into things which take arbitrary comparison delegates.
It may also be useful if you're using a language which doesn't support overloaded operators. That's the reason it's recommended that you don't expose functionality which is only supported by operators.
Jon Skeet
2008-12-02 15:59:34
+3
A:
Decimal.Compare returns a signed number indicating the relative values of two decimal values. A typical use of this is for sorting.
Operators such as >, >=, < return a boolean.
So they're used in difference scenarios.
Joe
2008-12-02 16:47:02