How to compare primitives with Java Generics?

Question

I am learning java Generics. I would like to compare primitives using unbounded Generics.I have the following code,

public static <T extends Comparable<T>> T max(T x, T y) {
    return x > y ? x : y;
}

but it won't compile. The error is:

The operator > is undefined for the argument type(s) T

Answer 1

To compare two Comparable objects, you must use compareTo , here x.compareTo(y) . Your method can be written

return x.compareTo(y) > 0 ? x : y;