ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Spaceship operator

The spaceship operator is sort of like a tool that helps us compare two things and figure out which one is bigger or smaller. It looks like a little spaceship with three parts, kind of like this: <=>.

The spaceship operator works by comparing two things and giving us back a number to tell us which one is bigger or smaller. If the thing on the left is bigger, then the spaceship operator will give us a positive number. If the thing on the right is bigger, then the spaceship operator will give us a negative number. And if both things are the same size, then the spaceship operator will give us a zero.

For example, let's say we want to compare two numbers, 5 and 7. We can use the spaceship operator like this:

5 <=> 7

The operator will look at the two numbers and tell us that 7 is bigger than 5, so it will give us a negative number like this:

-1

We can also use the spaceship operator to compare things like words or strings of letters. It will look at the letters in the words and compare them alphabetically, like this:

"apple" <=> "banana"

In this case, the operator will tell us that "apple" comes before "banana" in the alphabet, so it will give us a positive number like this:

1

Overall, the spaceship operator is a really handy tool that helps us compare things and figure out their order. It's kind of like having a little spaceship that can fly around and tell us which things are bigger or smaller than each other!
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