code: private boolean lessThanOrEqual(
           byte[] a,
           byte[] b)
      {
           if (a.length <= b.length)
           {
               for (int i = 0; i != a.length; i++)
               {
                   int    l = a[i] & 0xff;
                   int    r = b[i] & 0xff;
  
                   if (r > l)
                   {
                       return true;
                   }
                   else if (l > r)
                   {
                       return false;
                   }
               }
  
               return true;
           }
           else
           {
               for (int i = 0; i != b.length; i++)
               {
                   int    l = a[i] & 0xff;
                   int    r = b[i] & 0xff;
  
                   if (r > l)
                   {
                       return true;
                   }
                   else if (l > r)
                   {
                       return false;
                   }
               }
  
               return false;
           }
      }
docs: return true if a <= b (arrays are assumed padded with zeros).