Format
alist(A=a,B=b,C=c,...)
Returns
A new associative list with contents (keys) A, B, C, and associated values a, b, c.
Args
Arbitrary number of elements to be inserted into the associative list.
Creates a strictly associative list with key,value pairs. This is different from an ordinary list in several respects.
- “Keys” can be numbers. This means list items can’t be accessed by a numerical index.
- Keys can’t be repeated in the list, and always have an associated value (even if it’s just null).
- The order of keys in the list is not under user control.
The point of using this type over a regular list is to eke out performance gains in tight code. Operators such as + and - have improved performance because of the rules above.
In this proc the index values should be constants, and that usually means text constants. When these index values happen to be text strings that satisfy all the requirements for variable names, this may also be written in a convenient short-hand without the double quotes:
var/alist/lst = alist(player = "James Byond", score = 2000)In other words, this is exactly the same syntax as for named arguments.