dictionary object
The dictionary object is used to store pairs of keys and values, the key being a string with which one can look up a value of any type.
dictionary()
Parameters:
None.
Remarks:
The dictionary object comes in handy when you need to store an arbitrary number of variables with different types. When setting a new value you must use a unique string key with which you can then refer to the value again. You are able to delete a value at any given time, without affecting any of the others.
In more technical terms, the dictionary is what is commonly known as a hash map. When a new key/data pare is inserted, a hash is generated from the key which makes later lookup operations much faster than if a linear search of all the keys had to be performed.
Example:
dictionary game_board; // Declare our dictionary.
void main()
{
int value; // Declare a variable for retrieving values from a dictionary.
// Set our values.
game_board.set("1", 2); // Sets the value 2 to a key called 1.
game_board.set("2", 4); // Sets the value 4 to a key called 2.
game_board.get("1", value); // Retrieve value for 1.
alert("Dictionary example", "current value="+value);
game_board.get("2", value); // Retrieve value for 2.
alert("Dictionary example", "current value="+value);
game_board.delete_all(); // Delete all the values.
}