- Associative array
In computer science, an associative array, map, or dictionary is an abstract data type composed of a collection of pairs, such that each possible key appears at most once in the collection.
The dictionary problem is the task of designing a data structure that implements an associative array. A standard solution to the dictionary problem is a hash table; in some cases it is also possible to solve the problem using directly addressed arrays, binary search trees, or other more specialized structures
Associative arrays have many applications including such fundamental programming patterns as memoization and the decorator pattern.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associative_array
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