< (leftValue rightValue -- isLess)

Builtins

Name introduction, declaration modifiers, and module binding: NAME: ...;, codeRef, def, exportFunction, importFunction, importVariable, overload, private, static, use, and virtual.
Struct construction forms: (...), {...}, and array.
Selection forms: source-text selection with NAME and .NAME, read-only source-text selection with @NAME and .@NAME, and ordinal or known-name data-input selection with @, callField, and fieldRead.
Writing forms: source-text selection with !NAME and .!NAME, ordinal selection with ! and fieldWrite, and already-selected destination replacement with set.
Calling and control flow: call, if, loop, ucall, and uif.
Text operations: &, LF, attribute, textSize, and textSplit.
Condition constants, value comparison, and logical operators: <, =, >, DEBUG, FALSE, TRUE, and, is, lshift, or, rshift, xor, and ~.
Arithmetic and numeric transforms: *, +, -, /, ^, cast, ceil, cos, floor, log, log10, mod, neg, sin, and sqrt.
Reference, creation, and value-state operations: const, dynamic, isConst, isDirty, isDynamic, isRef, isStatic, known?, new, newVarOfTheSameType, stable?, unconst, and unknownStable?.
Schema and struct introspection: code?, codeRef?, fieldCount, fieldIndex, fieldIsRef, fieldIsVirtual, fieldName, has, isCombined, managed?, same, schemaName, and virtual?.
Storage and manual lifetime operations: addressToReference, alignment, manuallyDestroyVariable, manuallyInitVariable, storageAddress, and storageSize.
Diagnostics and compile-time failure: failCompilation, getCallTrace, printCompilerMessage, printStack, printStackTrace, and raiseStaticError.

< (leftValue rightValue -- isLess)

Inputs

leftValue: Left value in the comparison.

rightValue: Right value 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 value is less than the right dereferenced value.

Supported inputs are values 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 values compare by numeric order.

Ref values are dereferenced before comparison, so ordering depends on the referenced values, not on Ref identity.

If both numeric values are known, the result is known at compile time.

If one or both numeric values are unknown, 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 values compare lexicographically by their UTF-8 contents.

Unknown Text values are invalid.

A known NIL Text input is invalid.

The result is always a Cond value.

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