clarification on comparing objects of different types
<p>The following sentences are a cause of confusion for me(from Guido's Tutorial on python.org):</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>"Note that comparing objects of
  different types is legal. The outcome
  is deterministic but arbitrary: the
  types are ordered by their name. Thus,
  a list is always smaller than a
  string, a string is always smaller
  than a tuple, etc."than a tuple, etc."</p>
</blockquote>

<p>That means that for :</p>

<pre><code>a=[90]
b=(1)
a&lt;b
</code></pre>

<p>the result should be <code>True</code>. But it is not so! 
Can you help me out here?than a tuple, etc."</p>

<p>Also, what is meant by "The outcome is deterministic but arbitrary"?</p>
