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What does 'dictionary' mean in computer science?

Feb 29, 2024

What does 'dictionary' mean in computer science?

In computer science, a 'dictionary' is a data structure that stores pairs of keys and values

Dictionaries are also known as associative arrays, maps, or hash tables in different programming languages

Each key in a dictionary is unique and is used to access the corresponding value

Dictionaries are often used for fast data retrieval, where the key provides a quick way to find the associated value

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Example: In Python, a dictionary can be created using curly braces with key-value pairs separated by colons

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Access: You can access a value by referring to its key, like `my_dictionary['key1']` which would return 'value1'

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Modification: You can also modify the value associated with a key or add new key-value pairs

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Efficiency: Dictionaries are optimized for retrieving data, and the time complexity for accessing a value is typically O(1)

Dictionaries are widely used in various applications such as database indexing, caching, and settings/configuration management