text: function bccomp(left_operand, right_operand, scale) {
    //  discuss at: http://phpjs.org/functions/bccomp/
    // original by: lmeyrick (https://sourceforge.net/projects/bcmath-js/)
    //  depends on: _phpjs_shared_bc
    //   example 1: bccomp(1, 2);
    //   returns 1: 3
    //        todo: implement these testcases
  
    var libbcmath = this._phpjs_shared_bc();
  
    //bc_num
    var first, second;
    if (typeof scale === 'undefined') {
      scale = libbcmath.scale;
    }
    scale = ((scale < 0) ? 0 : scale);
  
    first = libbcmath.bc_init_num();
    second = libbcmath.bc_init_num();
  
    // note bc_ not php_str2num
    first = libbcmath.bc_str2num(left_operand.toString(), scale);
    // note bc_ not php_str2num
    second = libbcmath.bc_str2num(right_operand.toString(), scale);
    return libbcmath.bc_compare(first, second, scale);
  }