Integer comparison

gistfile1.java

    /**
     * Compares two integers by considering their signs.
     *
     * Suppose that
     *      i1 = -500.000.000
     *      i2 = 2.000.000.000
     *
     * Normally "i1 < i2", but if we use "i1 - i2" for comparison
     * i1 - i2 = -500.000.000 - 2.000.000.000 and we may accept result as "-2.500.000.000".
     * But the actual result is "1.794.967.296" because of overflow between
     * positive and negative integer bounds.
     *
     * So, if we use "i1 - i2" for comparison, since result is greater than 0,
     * "i1" is accepted as bigger that "i2". But in fact "i1" is smaller than "i2".
     * Therefore, "i1 - i2" is not good way for comparison way between signed integers.
     *
     * @param i1 First number to compare with second one
     * @param i2 Second number to compare with first one
     * @return +1 if i1 > i2, -1 if i2 > i1, 0 if i1 and i2 are equals
     */
    int compareIntegers(int i1, int i2) {
        // i1 - i2 is not good way for comparison
        if (i1 > i2) {
            return +1;
        } else if (i2 > i1) {
            return -1;
        } else {
            return 0;
        }
    }