The less-than operator, <, returns true when its arguments form a strictly increasing sequence from left to right. One argument always returns true; two or more arguments must be numeric and satisfy every adjacent comparison. section 6.3
Its contract includes these practical cases:
- Accepts integers, decimals, ratios, big integers, big decimals, and other Java numeric types when given multiple arguments. section 6.3
- Returns false when any required comparison fails; equal adjacent values fail because the ordering is strict. section 6.3
- Throws ArityException with no arguments and ClassCastException when a multi-argument call contains a non-number. section 6.3
Checking a numeric sequence
(< 0 (byte 1) 2 2.1 3N 4M 21/2) ; true (< 0 (byte 1) 2 2.1 3N 2M 21/2) ; false Use apply when the values already reside in a collection: (apply < [2.1 4 5.2 8 124 9012 1e4]) ; true
