Java Programming

Math.min() and Math.max() take exactly two arguments each. Since Java 5, both methods could very well take varargs, allowing programmers to write simpler code. So, instead of this:

public static int min(int a, int b) {
return (a <= b) ? a : b;
}

we could have something like this:

public static int min(final int first, final int... others) {
if ( (others==null) || (others.length==0) ) {
return first;
}

int minimum=first;
for (int a : others) {
if (a < minimum) {
minimum=a;
}
}

return minimum;
}

And simplify everyone's life by allowing calls like max(1, 2, 3, 4).

Yes, there are some issues to work out (for example, the method above won't accept min(x), where x is a int[] - a usage most programmers might expect to be accepted), but I think this would be a positive addition to the Math library (and StrictMath as well).

I have no idea if this has been discussed to death before, so I'd like ask around first. What do you think?

Thanks.