Compares its two arguments for order. Returns a negative integer, zero, or
 a positive integer as the first argument is less than, equal to, or greater
 than the second.
 
 The implementor must ensure that sgn(compare(x, y)) == -sgn(compare(y, x))
 for all x and y. (This implies that compare(x, y) must throw an exception
 if and only if compare(y, x) throws an exception.)
 
 The implementor must also ensure that the relation is transitive:
 ((compare(x, y)>0) && (compare(y, z)>0)) implies compare(x,
 z)>0.
 
 The implementer must also ensure that x.equals(y) implies that compare(x,
 y) == 0. Note that the converse is not necessarily true.
 
 Finally, the implementer must ensure that compare(x, y) == 0 implies that
 sgn(compare(x, z)) == sgn(compare(y, z)), for all z.
- Specified by:
- comparein interface- Comparator<Term>
- Returns:
- a negative integer, zero, or a positive integer as the first
         argument is less than, equal to, or greater than the second.
- Throws:
- ClassCastException- the arguments' types prevent them from being compared by this
              Comparator.
- Since:
- JDK1.2