ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Union type

Hey there little buddy,

Have you ever played with building blocks before? You know how you can make different shapes and sizes by combining different types of blocks together? Well, a union type is kind of like that but for programming.

In programming, a union type is when we can combine different types of variables together to make a new, more flexible type. So instead of just having a variable that can only be a number or only be a string, we can have a variable that can be either a number or a string depending on what we need it to be.

Think of it like a magic box that can hold different types of toys - sometimes it might have a toy car, sometimes it might have a doll, and sometimes it might have a ball. The box is still just one thing, but it can hold different types of toys at different times.

So, using a union type in programming allows us to create variables that can hold multiple types of values, which makes the code more flexible and powerful. And just like how you can take apart your building blocks and make new shapes, we can always change the types in a union type to fit our needs.

Isn't that cool?