What does the symbol == indicate?

The symbol "==" is used in programming languages, especially in contexts related to logic and comparisons, to denote equality between two values or expressions. When you see "a == b", it means that the left operand (a) is being compared to the right operand (b) to check if they hold the same value. If they do, the expression evaluates to true; otherwise, it evaluates to false.

This operator is essential in control structures like conditional statements, where determining equality is crucial to the flow of logic in software development, data analysis, and even in GIS applications where comparing dataset attributes can influence geospatial queries and analyses.

In contrast, the symbol for "not equal to" is commonly represented as "!=" in many programming languages, while "greater than" and "less than" are represented by ">" and "<", respectively. Understanding these symbols is fundamental to writing and interpreting code effectively in the context of GIS programming and data manipulation.