Generic algorithms

Implement a single function that takes two arguments and returns the bigger of the two. Assume you don't know the type of the  arguments and you don't know if the types can be compared. Assume that if a type can be compared, it will always be implemented by following a single standard. Use the latest standard of your language. Write the simplest program
that will pass an integer 1(one) and a float 1.1(one point one) into the function and write the result to standard output.

Post the compiler you used, the code and the result.
Write what will happen if the max function is called with broken syntax (I'm looking at you C macros).
Write what will happen if the objects of a type can't be compared.

I'll start with C and C++.
Compiler: gcc 4.3.2 20081105 (Red Hat 4.3.2-7)
#include <iostream>
template<class F>
F& max(F& a, F& b) { return (a < b) ? b : a; }
int main() { std::cout << max(1, 1.1) << '\n'; }
Results: Compile time error:
max.cpp: In function ‘int main()’:
max.cpp:6: error: no matching function for call to ‘max(int, double)’
Bad syntax: Standard compile-time error
No comparison: Standard compile-time error about undefined operator<

#define max(a, b) (less(a, b) ? b : a)
#include <stdio.h>
int less(int a, int b) { return a < b; }
int main() { printf("%f\n", max(1, 1.1)); }
Result: Bad output
1.000000
Bad syntax: Depends on the error in the syntax. Can either compile and cause undefined behaviour or fail at compile time with strange syntax errors.
No comparison: Standard compile-time error about an undefined function.

>>33

Holy fuck, so many amateurs on this fucking board. Can;t even use Google. Insist on posting first to make themselves look like an idiot.

When you grow up and write programs that actually people actually use, you will find out some of those people do not live in the same fucking country as you. Some data is formatted differently depending if you are an American or a terrorist(Rest of the World).

What date is this: 01/02/2009?

If you are an American you would say January 2nd. If you are a terrorist you would say it February 1st. So when converting and comparing types that contain data that is formatted in a way specific to a region, you need to take in to account how faggy that region is. If you are developing on some faggy legacy language and/or framework, it probably does not have these conventions built in. .Net does because it is not faggy.

But I think >>31 should have used System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture.