public static boolean compare(int leftSide, String comp, int rightSide) {
        // should this function be somewhere else?
        // leftSide COMPARED to rightSide:
        if (comp.contains("LT")) return leftSide < rightSide;

        else if (comp.contains("LE")) return leftSide <= rightSide;

        else if (comp.contains("EQ")) return leftSide == rightSide;

        else if (comp.contains("GE")) return leftSide >= rightSide;

        else if (comp.contains("GT")) return leftSide > rightSide;

        else if (comp.contains("NE")) return leftSide != rightSide; // not equals

        return false;
    }