Which of the following best describes strict equality (===) in JavaScript?

Strict equality (===) in JavaScript is used to compare both the value and the type of two operands. This means that if the two values being compared are not of the same type, JavaScript will not coerce them into a common type for the comparison. For example, if you compare a number (e.g., 5) and a string (e.g., "5"), strict equality will return false because the two operands are of different types.

Using strict equality ensures that you have an exact match, which can help prevent bugs that might arise from unexpected type coercion. This contrasts with loose equality (==), which allows for type coercion and can lead to comparisons that seem counterintuitive, such as 0 being considered equal to "0" because of implicit type conversion.

Understanding strict equality is crucial for developers looking to write precise and predictable JavaScript code, especially when working with complex data types and values.