(data structure)
Definition:A collection of items that are randomly accessible by akey, often astring.
See alsoarray.
Note:Implementation: the access method must essentially search for a match. The simplest, but slowest, implementation is to do alinear search over the array for a match.
If that is too slow, and you access the array by number, too, you must create and maintain an index into the array. The index is adictionary, organized by the content, of indexes into the array.
Author:PEB
If you have suggestions, corrections, or comments, please get in touchwithPaul Black.
Entry modified 17 December 2004.
HTML page formatted Wed Oct 30 12:15:30 2024.
Cite this as:
Paul E. Black, "associative array", inDictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures [online], Paul E. Black, ed. 17 December 2004. (accessed TODAY)Available from:https://www.nist.gov/dads/HTML/assocarray.html