title: Set a variable to the < ("less than") operator as a function in Swift?
body: <p>There's a neat guide <a href="http://www.raywenderlich.com/80818/operator-overloading-in-swift-tutorial" rel="noreferrer">here</a> about overloading operators in Swift, but it doesn't say anything about treating operators as functions that I can pass around as variables like any other function. I want to do something like <code>var comparator = (&lt;)</code> to set a variable to the <code>&lt;</code> function, but every syntax I've tried hasn't worked, and the Swift Programming Guide doesn't mention anything relevant. I know how to achieve a similar effect with a lambda expression, but that's messy. How can I set a variable to the <code>&lt;</code> function?</p>