In computer programming, a dictionary is a collection of key-value pairs, where each key is associated with a value. Dictionaries are also sometimes referred to as associative arrays, maps, or hash tables.

In a dictionary, the keys are unique and are used to look up their corresponding values. This makes dictionaries useful for organizing and accessing data in a flexible and efficient way. For example, you might use a dictionary to store information about people, with each key representing a person’s name and each value representing their age, address, or other information.

Many programming languages support dictionaries as a built-in data type or as part of a standard library. Some examples of languages that have dictionary-like features include Python, Ruby, JavaScript, PHP, and C#. In Python, dictionaries are denoted by curly braces {} and can be easily created and manipulated using key-value pairs. Here is an example of a Python dictionary:
person = {“name”: “Alice”, “age”: 25, “address”: “123 Main St”}
This dictionary has three key-value pairs: “name” -> “Alice”, “age” -> 25, and “address” -> “123 Main St”. You can access the value associated with a particular key using bracket notation, like this:
print(person[“name”]) # Output: Alice
This will print the value associated with the key “name”, which is “Alice”.