Comparing values and combining conditions
Comparison operators are used to compare values and return Boolean results (True or False). These include equal to (==), not equal to (!=), greater than (>), less than (<), greater than or equal to (>=), and less than or equal to (<=). Logical operators (and, or, not) are used to combine conditional statements. The 'and' operator returns True if both statements are true, 'or' returns True if at least one statement is true, and 'not' reverses the result. Python uses short-circuit evaluation for logical operations: for 'and', if the first operand is false, the second operand isn't evaluated; for 'or', if the first operand is true, the second isn't evaluated. This behavior can be used for efficient conditional execution. Comparison operators can be chained (e.g., a < b < c), which is equivalent to a < b and b < c. These operators are essential for control flow statements like if conditions and while loops, enabling programs to make decisions based on values and conditions.