Java Generics-Find Max Element in Array

[Cory_1]

I am writing a program for extra practice from my book on finding the max element in array using Java Generics. My Code so far is:

public class GenericMax {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Integer[] numbers = {1, 2, 3}; //Creates array of integers
        System.out.println(max(numbers));

        String[] words = {"red", "green", "blue"}; //Creates an array of strings
        System.out.println(max(words));

        Circle[] circles = {new Circle(3), new Circle(2.9), new Circle(5.9)}; //creates an array of circles
        System.out.println(max(circles));
    }

    static class Circle implements Comparable<Circle> { //Circle object implements Comparable to compare with Circle
        double radius;
        public Circle (double radius){
            this.radius = radius; //sets value of radius from main method for radius
            }

        @Override
        public int compareTo(Circle c) {
            if (radius < c.radius)
                return -1;
            else if (radius == c.radius)
                return 0;
            else
                return 1;
        }

        @Override
        public String toString() {
            return "Circle radius: " + radius;
        }
        }

    public static <E extends Comparable<E>> E max(E[] list) {
        E max = list[0]; //sets the first value in the array as the current maximum
        for (int i = 1; i <= list.length; i++) {
            if (list[i] > max) {
                max = list[i];
            }

        }
        return max;
    }
}

I am getting a compile error at "if (list[i] > max)".
What have I done wrong? There is no complie error anywhere else in the code

[sepp2k]

The > operator is only defined for primitive types. To compare Comparable objects, use the compateTo method instead.

[JamesCherrill]

The > operator only works for numeric primitives. Depending on the type of the generic arguent that could mean
Circle1 > Circle2 (etc)
Because all your generics implement Comparable. you must call compareTo rather than using numeric operators

[Cory_1]

So is this the appropriate method operator? :

public static <E extends Comparable<E>> E max(E[] list) {
        E max = list[0]; //sets the first value in the array as the current maximum
        for (int i = 1; i < list.length; i++) {
            if (list[i].compareTo(max) > 0) //if value in list[i] is greater than max and is positive(greater than 0), the max value is replaced by list[i] {
                max = list[i];
            }

        }
        return max;
    }

[newcoder310]

My personal preference is to use Guava's ComparisonChain. Its a much more subtle way of doing the comparison.

[JamesCherrill]

Maybe a better option, but for a new learner I would always advise sticking to the standard API if possible - 3rd party libraries do add an extra level of complication just when it's least needed.