An associative array (also associative container, map, mapping, dictionary, finite map, and in query-processing an index or index file) is an abstract data type composed of a collection of unique keys and a collection of values, where each key is associated with one value (or set of values). The operation of finding the value associated with a key is called a lookup or indexing, and this is the most important operation supported by an associative array. The relationship between a key and its value is sometimes called a mapping or binding. For example, if the value associated with the key "bob" is 7, we say that our array maps "bob" to 7. Associative arrays are very closely related to the mathematical concept of a function with a finite domain. As a consequence, a common and important use of associative arrays is in memoization. From the perspective of a computer programmer, an associative array can be viewed as a generalization of an array. While a regular array maps an integer key (index) to a value of arbitrary data type, an associative array's keys can also be arbitrarily typed.

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