== Why is this an issue?

It is the sign, rather than the magnitude of the value returned from ``++compareTo++`` that matters. Returning ``++Integer.MIN_VALUE++`` does _not_ convey a higher degree of inequality, and doing so can cause errors because the return value of ``++compareTo++`` is sometimes inversed, with the expectation that negative values become positive. However, inversing ``++Integer.MIN_VALUE++`` yields ``++Integer.MIN_VALUE++`` rather than ``++Integer.MAX_VALUE++``.


=== Noncompliant code example

[source,java]
----
public int compareTo(MyClass) {
  if (condition) {
    return Integer.MIN_VALUE;  // Noncompliant
  }
----


=== Compliant solution

[source,java]
----
public int compareTo(MyClass) {
  if (condition) {
    return -1;
  }
----

ifdef::env-github,rspecator-view[]

'''
== Implementation Specification
(visible only on this page)

=== Message

Simply return -1.


endif::env-github,rspecator-view[]