[LANG-827] CompareToBuilder's doc doesn't specify precedence of fields it uses in performing comparisons

• Type: Improvement
• Status: Closed
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Implemented
• Affects Version/s: 3.1
• Fix Version/s: 3.4
• Component/s: lang.builder.*
• Labels: documentation
• Assignee: Duncan Jones
• Reporter: david cogen
• Created: 25/Sep/12 15:18
• Updated: 06/Apr/15 17:28
• Resolved: 29/Sep/14 12:05

Description

The doc does not specify in what order the fields declared using append() are applied. So if for example I use CompareToBuilder to build a comparator for a class Complex (2 doubles), and I use append(c.real) followed by append(c.imag), does the comparison consider the real or imaginary part "more important" for the final result of the comparison.

And similarly, the reflection versions also don't specify the order of the fields they consider.

Yes, I can experiment to determine the behavior. Which I am about to do. But I am not comfortable relying on experimentally-determined, undocumented behavior for correcteness. Which is why I classified this as Major priority, not Minor or Trivial.