return new NullFriendlyComparator<>();
  }

  private static final class NullFriendlyComparator<T> implements Comparator<T>, Serializable {
    @Override
    public int compare(T left, T right) {
      return String.valueOf(left).compareTo(String.valueOf(right));
    }
  }

   * Returns {@code b} to the {@code k}th power. Even if the result overflows, it will be equal to
   * {@code BigInteger.valueOf(b).pow(k).intValue()}. This implementation runs in {@code O(log k)}
   * time.
   *
   * <p>Compare {@link #checkedPow}, which throws an {@link ArithmeticException} upon overflow.
   *
   * @throws IllegalArgumentException if {@code k < 0}
   */
  @GwtIncompatible // failing tests

    return new NullFriendlyComparator<>();
  }

  private static final class NullFriendlyComparator<T> implements Comparator<T>, Serializable {
    @Override
    public int compare(T left, T right) {
      return String.valueOf(left).compareTo(String.valueOf(right));
    }
  }

   * other. But Atomic objects residing in arrays will tend to be
   * placed adjacent to each other, and so will most often share
   * cache lines (with a huge negative performance impact) without
   * this precaution.
   *
   * In part because Cells are relatively large, we avoid creating
   * them until they are needed.  When there is no contention, all

          castOrCopyToList(mapGenerator.order(castOrCopyToList(mapGenerator.getSampleElements(5))));
      sort(
          insertionOrder,
          new Comparator<V>() {
            @Override
            public int compare(V left, V right) {
              // The indexes are small enough for the subtraction trick to be safe.
              return indexOfEntryWithValue(left) - indexOfEntryWithValue(right);
            }

        assertEquals(0, c2.compareTo(c1), "expected " + v2 + " == " + v1);
    }

    private void checkVersionsArrayEqual(String[] array) {
        // compare against each other (including itself)
        for (int i = 0; i < array.length; ++i)
            for (int j = i; j < array.length; ++j) checkVersionsEqual(array[i], array[j]);
    }

    }

    /**
     * Configures this {@code Builder} to order entries by value according to the specified
     * comparator.
     *
     * <p>The sort order is stable, that is, if two entries have values that compare as equivalent,
     * the entry that was inserted first will be first in the built map's iteration order.
     *
     * @throws IllegalStateException if this method was already called
     * @since 19.0
     */

    return generateOrdering();
  }

  @Generates
  <T extends @Nullable Object> Ordering<T> generateOrdering() {
    return new Ordering<T>() {
      @Override
      public int compare(T left, T right) {
        return 0;
      }

      final String string = paramString(Ordering.class, generateInt());

      @Override
      public String toString() {
        return string;
      }

        public ComparisonChain compare(int left, int right) {
          return classify(Ints.compare(left, right));
        }

        @Override
        public ComparisonChain compare(long left, long right) {
          return classify(Longs.compare(left, right));
        }

        @Override
        public ComparisonChain compare(float left, float right) {
          return classify(Float.compare(left, right));
        }

   * @param b second value to compare.
   * @throws ClassCastException if the parameters are not <i>mutually comparable</i> using the given
   *     comparator.
   * @since 30.0
   */
  @ParametricNullness
  public static <T extends @Nullable Object> T max(
      @ParametricNullness T a, @ParametricNullness T b, Comparator<? super T> comparator) {