Declaring

Maps are a data structure which associates values of the same type to values of the same type. The former are called key and the latter values. Together they make up a binding. An additional requirement is that the type of the keys must be comparable, in the Michelson sense.

As a consequence, the predefined type map has two parameters: the first is the type of the keys, and the second the type of the associated values.

The empty map is denoted by the predefined value Map.empty. A non-empty map can be built by using the function Map.literal which takes a list of pairs of key and values, and returns a map containing them as bindings, and only them.

type word = string;

type definition = list<string>;

type dictionary = map<word, definition>;

const empty_dict: dictionary = Map.empty;

const dictionary : dictionary =

Map.literal (list([

["one", list(["The number 1.", "A member of a group."])],

["two", list(["The number 2."])]]));

The Map.literal predefined function builds a map from a list of key-value pairs, [<key>, <value>]. Note also the "," to separate individual map bindings. Note that "<string value>" as address means that we type-cast a string into an address.

Note: See the predefined namespace Map

Note: Map keys are internally sorted by increasing values, so the type of the keys be comparable, that is, they obey a total order (any two keys can be compared).