Visual Basic 2005 for Programmers: Deitel Developer Series, Second Edition

16.5. Comparing Strings

The next two examples demonstrate the various methods for comparing Strings. To understand how one String can be “greater than” or “less than” another String, consider the process of alphabetizing a series of last names. The reader would, no doubt, place "Jones" before "Smith", because the first letter of "Jones" comes before the first letter of "Smith" in the alphabet. The alphabet is more than just a set of 26 letters—it is an ordered list of characters in which each letter occurs in a specific position. For example, Z is more than just a letter of the alphabet; Z is specifically the 26^th letter of the alphabet.

Computers can order characters alphabetically because the characters are represented internally as Unicode ...