The author, in an adorable little attempt to wear big-boy pants[0], seems not to know that '&#60;' is a message passed to a receiver.  You can even redefine it if you like.<p>Better pseudo code would be<p><pre><code>    1.lt(2).lt(3)
</code></pre>
In fact, this is correct (albeit ungainly) ruby code<p><pre><code>    1.&#60;(2)  # true
</code></pre>
and so<p><pre><code>    1.&#60;(2).&#60;(3) # Say wha ... ?
</code></pre>
makes no sense.<p>[0]: Yes, a cheap shot.