associative array

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

associative array

   <programming> (Or "hash", "map", "dictionary") An {array}
   where the {indices} are not just {integers} but may be
   arbitrary strings.

   {awk} and its descendants (e.g. {Perl}) have associative
   arrays which are implemented using {hash coding} for faster
   look-up.

   (2007-10-02)