dictionary/map/key-value pairs data structure in C

Question

How does one construct and access a set of key-value pairs in C? To use a silly simple example, let\'s say I want to create a table which translates between an integer and i

Answer 1

There is no built-in way to do this unless you count initializing an array like this in C99:

double squareRoots[] =
{
     [4] = 2.0,
     [9] = 3.0,
    [16] = 4.0,
    [25] = 5.0,
};

However, this allocates 26 elements in the array; the other values are all zeroes.

Assuming you didn't mean this, then look at C Interfaces and Implementations by D R Hanson; it shows a way of implementing associative arrays (aka hashes or dictionaries).