In computer science, the expression "Alice < Bob" often represents a comparison between two entities, typically in the context of cryptography or data security. Here, Alice and Bob are commonly used placeholder names for two parties involved in communication or data exchange. The symbol "<" indicates that Alice is considered to be less than Bob in some measurable way, such as trust level, data size, or computational power. This notation can also be applied in various algorithms or protocols where one entity's capabilities or values are compared to another's. For example, in a secure messaging system, if Alice has a lower encryption key strength than Bob, it might be represented as "Alice < Bob," highlighting the difference in their security measures.