question: private boolean lessThanOrEqual ( byte [ ] a , byte [ ] b ) { int len = Math . min ( a . length , b . length ) ; for ( int i = 0 ; i != len ; ++ i ) { if ( a [ i ] != b [ i ] ) { return ( a [ i ] & 0xff ) < ( b [ i ] & 0xff ) ; } } return len == a . length ; }
target:  return true if a <= b (arrays are assumed padded with zeros).