Why can’t numeric comparison operators be used to compare strings in Java?

"Numeric comparison operators cannot be used to compare strings in Java. For example, we could not code something like (\"aardvark\" < \"zebra\"). The Java compiler would not allow you to do this because the comparison operator is for numeric types only. However, the following code would compile and run:\n\n1 String s = \"aardvark\";\n\n2 String t = \"zebra\";\n\n3 boolean b = (s == t);\n\nbut it wouldn’t necessarily give you what you want. To understand why this is okay, recall that a String is an object; the s and t variables are references to that object in memory. When we use the equality comparison, == we’re asking if s and t are the same memory address. In this case, likely they are not and so the result is false. However, similar code,\n\n1 String s = new String(\"liger\");\n\n2 String t = new String(\"liger\");\n\n3 boolean b = (s == t);"