(data structure)
Definition: A collection of items that are randomly accessible by a key, often a string.
See also array.
Note: Implementation: the access method must essentially search for a match. The simplest, but slowest, implementation is to do a linear 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 a dictionary, organized by the content, of indexes into the array.
Author: PEB
If you have suggestions, corrections, or comments, please get in touch with Paul E. Black.
Entry modified 17 December 2004.
HTML page formatted Fri Mar 25 16:20:34 2011.
Cite this as:
Paul E. Black, "associative array", in
Dictionary of Algorithms and Data
Structures [online], Paul E. Black, ed.,
U.S. National Institute of
Standards and Technology. 17 December 2004. (accessed TODAY)
Available from: http://www.nist.gov/dads/HTML/assocarray.html
