A branch is a sub-tree in a tree, a node is just an element that can have child and/or parent relationships with other nodes (elements) in the tree. Such an element/node itself is not a branch. The relationship between nodes/elements is what is forming a tree/branch. Specifically a branch of/for/associated with a given node in a tree is the set of this given node and all other nodes that are descendants of the given node. The given node can serve as a representative of the branch, but it alone is not the branch.

what would a code such as e.nodeType == Node.TEXT_NODE mean in JavaScript?

This expression (== is something you are surely familiar with if you ever worked through any tutorial covering the JS language fundamentals) will evaluate to either a false or true value depending on whether the value of "e.nodeType" is equal or unequal to the value of "Node.TEXT_NODE". Nothing more, nothing less.

DOM node types: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/nodeType

elgonzo‭ either you don't understand my question or maliciously interpreting it or I did a crappy job in explaining what I am actually asking.

I meant to ask what is being compared ! and to get an idea about what is nodeType.

Oh, my bad. Apologies (sincerly!). It's unfortunately quite easy to read your question that way, like "What does a == b do?" instead of the "What is that a thing there in the a==b expression?" as you intended.

As the name of the "nodeType" property suggests, it contains a value that represents the type of the node/element (with the node object being assigned to the variable "e"). Node objects representing nodes/elements of different types will have different values in this property according to their actual node type. (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/nodeType)

Okay elgonzo‭ I have edited to clarify.

what is TEXT_NODE here

I already linked the documentation that explains what it is. Once more in case it got missed: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/nodeType

elgonzo‭ I didn't miss it, it's just that I have already published a question which I don't find a good reason to delete and edited to prevent other people would understand as you did firstly...

Ah, alrighty then... If you wish, you can go ahead and self-answer...

elgonzo‭ I know... In this particular scenario and at least as of this moment, I'd give the honor to an expert.