ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Tree traversal

Okay, so imagine you are standing in front of a really big tree with lots of branches and leaves. To explore this tree, you need to pick one branch to start on and then follow it to see where it goes. This is what we call "traversing" the tree.

There are different ways to traverse a tree. One way is called "pre-order traversal". This means that you start at the root of the tree (the base of the trunk) and then follow each branch in a specific order. First, you go down the left branch as far as you can, and then you come back up and go down the right branch as far as you can. You keep doing this until you have explored the whole tree.

Another way to traverse a tree is called "post-order traversal". This means that you start at the bottom of the branches and work your way up to the root. You follow the left branch first and then the right branch before going back up to the previous level.

There are also other ways to traverse a tree, but these are two of the most common. Tree traversal is an important concept in computer science because it is often used when working with data structures, such as trees, and it allows us to explore and manipulate information in an organized way.