Run-time type information

Okay kiddo, let's say you have a bunch of toys in a big box, but you don't know what kind of toys they are until you actually pull them out and see them. This is kind of like how a computer program works - it has a bunch of different "things" that it uses (like numbers, words, and even other programs), but it doesn't know exactly what each one is until it gets used.

But sometimes, it's helpful for the program to know what kind of thing it's dealing with, especially if it's going to be doing something special with it. For example, if you have a toy car and a toy airplane, you might want to play with them in different ways depending on which one you're holding.

So in a computer program, we use something called "run-time type information" or RTTI for short, to figure out what kind of thing we're dealing with as the program is running - kind of like pulling a toy out of the box and looking at it to see what it is. This can help us use the thing in the program in different ways depending on what it is.

For example, let's say our program has a bunch of different "shapes" - like squares, circles, and triangles. Without RTTI, the program wouldn't be able to tell the difference between them. But with RTTI, we can ask the program "hey, what kind of shape is this?" and it will be able to tell us - kind of like asking someone "hey, what kind of toy is this?" and having them tell you it's a car or an airplane.

So basically, run-time type information is a way for a computer program to figure out what kind of things it's dealing with as it's running, so that it can use them in different ways depending on what they are. It's kind of like looking at toys to see what they are before you play with them!