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A dict, or dictionary, or hash table, is a set of strings that index or hash to a value.

Many programming languages provide a way to hard-code a dict within a program.

Some of these ways are now presented along with a way to output the list from beginning to end.

A hash table is a table that is hashed.

A hash is a mapping of one value of a potentially large set of values to another value of a limited set of values.

The hash function should be fast and spread the values somewhat randomly over a limited range of values.

If there are not many collisions (two values mapping to the same hash value), then quick lookups can be performed.

A hash table, or dictionary, is sometimes called an associative array.

An array can be simulated with a hash table. How?

Most programming languages have some form of hash table support. Sometimes it is built into the language. Sometimes is is via library routines.

Here is the JavaScript code.
var dict1 = { "alpha" : 2, "beta" : 3, "gamma" : 5 }; console.log("example dict\n");

Here is the output of the JavaScript code.
example dict

Here is the Lua code.
local dict1 = { ["alpha"] = 2, ["beta"] = 3, ["gamma"] = 5 } print("example dict\n")

Here is the output of the Lua code.
example dict

Here is the PHP code.
<?php $dict1 = array( "alpha" => 2, "beta" => 3, "gamma" => 5 ); printf("example dict\n"); ?>

Here is the output of the PHP code.
example dict

Here is the Python code.
dict1 = { "alpha" : 2, "beta" : 3, "gamma" : 5 } print("example dict")

Here is the output of the Python code.
example dict