[m-dev.] Inequalities and compare/3

[Ralph Becket]

I observed with the array__sort implementation that the standard
inequalities <, =<, >, >= are not defined on arbitrary types;
instead one has to use compare/3.

Is that a deliberate design decision?  If not, would it be sensible
to make X < Y a synonym for compare((<), X, Y) etc. for whatever
type X and Y share?

On that note, the reference manual makes no reference to the
standard ordering, but the comment for compare/3 in builtin.m
does.  Personally I'd be happier to have some statement on the
subject so I know when I can rely on, say, sorting an assoc_list
to do the "obvious" thing.

Cheers,

Ralph

--
Ralph Becket      |      MSR Cambridge      |      rbeck at microsoft.com 
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