I am trying to learn about Python. I know a dictionary is a data type that consists of keys and values. To my understanding, I believe hash map has to be similar to a dictionary? I'm not sure how hash tables are utilized. If anyone can explain on a high level, easy to understand, much appreciated.
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dictionaries are hash maps (synonym for hash table) as far as Python is concerned. but in general CS parlance, "dictionary" is an *abstract data type*, a synonym for "map" and "associative array", that could be implemented with several different concrete data structures, including hash tables / hash maps – juanpa.arrivillaga Feb 11 '22 at 03:44
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So note, in other languages, "dictionaries" or "maps" can have different implementations. e.g. in Java, there is a Map interface, which is implemented by both a HashMap and a TreeMap class, which offer different performance trade-offs. – juanpa.arrivillaga Feb 11 '22 at 03:47