ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Don't care condition

Sometimes when we are told to do something, we don't really care about doing it or not. We just don't have any interest in it. This is just like when your mom tells you to clean your room but you don’t really feel like it.

In computer programming, we use a phrase called “don't care condition”. This phrase means that the computer program doesn't really care about one particular thing or condition. It's like when your mom asks you if you want a sandwich with mayonnaise or mustard, but you don’t care about which one she chooses because you like them both.

In a computer program, when we encounter the “don't care condition”, we just ignore it and move on to the next step. It's like when you're playing a game with your friend and they ask you which controller you want to use, but it doesn’t matter to you.

The “don't care condition” helps to simplify computer programs and make them faster. It's just a way of saying that some things in the program aren’t really important and can be skipped over. So, just like when your mom asks you to choose between two things but you don’t really care, a computer program can also have a “don’t care” attitude about certain conditions.