What does operator precedence determine in programming?

Operator precedence is a critical concept in programming that specifies the order in which operations are executed in an expression, especially in arithmetic calculations. When an expression contains multiple operators, operator precedence determines which operator to evaluate first. For example, in the expression (3 + 4 \times 2), the multiplication operator has higher precedence than addition, so the multiplication is performed first. This results in the final value being (3 + (4 \times 2) = 3 + 8 = 11).

Understanding operator precedence is essential for writing correct expressions in code and ensuring that the intended calculations are performed as expected. Incorrectly assuming a different order of operations can lead to bugs or unexpected results in the program's behavior, underlining why this concept is foundational for any programming task.

The other options focus on different aspects of programming, such as loop definitions, variable declarations, and data types, which are not related to operator precedence.