Could anyone guide me whether a question as given below would be on-topic here.?? Brief summary about my question, "I just recently discovered that typing number1 or number2 in the shell returns always the number 1 (here or is opertaor) and when empty objects are placed first the second object is returned as output. I researched about this and found a site mentioning the same observation, but no insight. By insight I mean to ask, that why the shell returns that and not anything else,(...)

I wish to find a understanding beyond it was programmed that way( if it exists)"

cs.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/254/… Here user, patrick talks about one of the type of questions which I believe mine is similar to, though it's downvoted by the community, :/ . So should I assume that my question is off-topic here.??