ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Painter's algorithm

Imagine that you are drawing a picture on a whiteboard with colored markers. You want to draw a tree, a house, and a sun. You start by drawing the tree, then the house, and finally the sun. But, when you finish drawing the sun, you notice that some parts of it are hidden behind the tree and the house.

This is where the painter's algorithm comes in. The painter's algorithm is like a set of rules that tell you what to draw first so that everything is visible in the picture. Think of it as painting a wall, where you start with the background and then add the details in the front.

So, in the case of our picture, we should first draw the background, which is the sky. Then, we can draw the sun on top of the sky because it should be visible. Next, we can draw the tree, and finally, the house. This way, everything is visible in the picture, and the painter's algorithm helped us determine the order of drawing to achieve this.

In a computer, the painter's algorithm is used to determine the order in which objects are drawn on the screen. This helps avoid objects overlapping each other and hiding parts that should be visible.