cue compare

[Chuck]

    cue compare(other) as int
    cue compare(other as X) as int

• Note that there is already a .compareTo method that Cobra will look for. That likely will need to be retired.
• is override or base.compare are required if the base class also provides this cue
• The normal means of invoking this is with a comparison operator.
• But still externally visible in case you need the value (-, 0, +) of the result.
• Need to consider if implementing this can serve as an implementation of cue equals when cue equals is not present.
• Some research and consideration is required about whether the argument to this method is typed or not, or if both cues could be declared/overloaded. Consider various generic and non-generic interfaces of .NET and JVM like IComparable<of T>. For example, one possible approach:

  	class X
  	
  		cue compare(other as X) as int
  			...
  # Causes the dynamic cue compare to be implemented if not already as if you specified:
  		cue compare(other) as int
  			if other is this, return 0
  			if other inherits X
  				return .compare(other)  # will invoked the statically typed overload
  			else
  				throw <exception>
  

[Chuck]

For the well typed other arg, is the type nilable or not? I would generally say no if Cobra was a standalone language but it rides on top of VMs that are not savvy about nil vs. not.