space required when using < before a variable

[vcgalpin]

trafficstars

links> var x=5; x = 5 : Int links> 1<x; ***: Parse error: :1

1<x; ^ links> 1< x; true : Bool

[dhil]

I think this is intended per the lexical syntax. <x is parsed as the opening of a XML tag.

[jamescheney]

Yes, this seems inevitable since XML can be freely used as an expression, without some kind of disambiguating quasiquote introducer like xml {<x>foo</x>} (that might make sense to have anyway but would be a big breaking change)