< (leftValue rightValue -- isLess)

Inputs

• leftValue: Left operand in the comparison.
• rightValue: Right operand in the comparison.

Outputs

• isLess: Cond result that is TRUE when leftValue is less than rightValue, and unknown when ordering cannot be decided at compile time.

< tests whether the left dereferenced object is less than the right dereferenced object.

Supported inputs are objects whose dereferenced schemas are same-schema numeric or Text. Both inputs must be non-NIL. Text inputs must also be known.

Behavior

• If the dereferenced schemas differ, the builtin is invalid. It does not return FALSE.
• Numeric objects compare by numeric order.
• If both numeric objects have known values, the result is known at compile time.
• If one or both numeric objects have unknown values, the result is an unknown Cond, except for the boundary cases below.
• For Whole schemas only, two boundary cases still become known FALSE with one unknown operand: known left maximum, and known right minimum.
• Known Text objects compare lexicographically by their UTF-8 contents.

Example

{} 0 {} [
  first: 3;
  second: 4;
  intValue: 0 dynamic;

  "-- int32 --" printCompilerMessage
  3 4 < printStack _:;
  4 4 < printStack _:;
  5 4 < printStack _:;

  "-- references are dereferenced first --" printCompilerMessage
  @first @second < printStack _:;
  @second @first < printStack _:;

  "-- unknown int32 --" printCompilerMessage
  intValue 5 < printStack _:;

  "-- Whole boundary cases --" printCompilerMessage
  2147483647 intValue < printStack _:;
  intValue -2147483648 < printStack _:;

  "-- text --" printCompilerMessage
  "alpha" "beta" < printStack _:;
  "beta" "alpha" < printStack _:;

  0
] "main" exportFunction

Expected Output During Compilation

-- int32 --
TRUE
FALSE
FALSE
-- references are dereferenced first --
TRUE
FALSE
-- unknown int32 --
Cond
-- Whole boundary cases --
FALSE
FALSE
-- text --
TRUE
FALSE

See also

• = builtin (leftValue rightValue -- isEqual) Tests equality of values after dereferencing for Cond, numeric, and Text objects of the same schema.
• > builtin (leftValue rightValue -- isGreater) Tests whether the left dereferenced object is greater than the right one for supported same-schema numeric or known Text objects.
• is builtin (leftValue rightValue -- isIdentityLike) Tests identity-like equality for references, Text, and Code objects of the same dereferenced schema; In-place objects of the same schema still give FALSE.
• same builtin (leftSchema rightSchema -- isSameSchema) Tests whether two dereferenced schemas are exactly the same; this is schema equality only, not runtime-value equality.