View Category
Maps
Declaration

Define an empty map

python
map = {}
java
Map map = new HashMap();

Define an unmodifiable empty map

python
import collections
EmptyDict = collections.namedtuple("EmptyDict", "")
e = EmptyDict()
java
Map empty = Collections.EMPTY_MAP;
SortedMap empty = MapUtils.EMPTY_SORTED_MAP;

Define an initial map

Define the map {circle:1, triangle:3, square:4}
python
shapes = {'circle': 1, 'square': 4, 'triangle': 2}
java
Map shapes = new HashMap();
shapes.put("circle", 1);
shapes.put("triangle", 3);
shapes.put("square", 4);
Map shapes = new HashMap() {{ put("circle",1); put("triangle",3); put("square",4); }}
Access

Check if a key exists in a map

Given a map pets {joe:cat,mary:turtle,bill:canary} print "ok" if an pet exists for "mary"
python
pets = dict(joe='cat', mary='turtle', bill='canary')
if ("mary" in pets) print "ok"
java
if (pets.containsKey("mary")) System.out.println("ok");

Retrieve a value from a map

Given a map pets {joe:cat,mary:turtle,bill:canary} print the pet for "joe" ("cat")
python
print pets['joe']
java
String pet = pets.get("joe");

Add an entry to a map

Given an empty pets map, add the mapping from "rob" to "dog"
python
pets['rob'] = 'dog'
java
pets.put("rob", "dog");

Remove an entry from a map

Given a map pets {joe:cat,mary:turtle,bill:canary} remove the mapping for "bill" and print "canary"
python
print pets.pop('bill')
java
System.out.println(pets.remove("bill"))
Algorithms

Create a histogram map from a list

Given the list [a,b,a,c,b,b], produce a map {a:2, b:3, c:1} which contains the count of each unique item in the list
python
from collections import defaultdict
h = defaultdict(int)
for k in "abacbb":
h[k] += 1

h = {}
for k in "abacbb":
h[k] = h.setdefault(k, 0) + 1
from collections import Counter
h = Counter("abacbb")
print(h)
csharp
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;

// This is a "functional" C# approach

// NOTE: In C# "maps" are of type Dictionary<Tkey, TValue>
// so our histogram map is of type Dictionary<object, int>
public class HistogramMap {
public Dictionary<object, int> FromList(List<object> list) {
// The "Aggregate" method works like "inject" in many other languages.
return list.Aggregate(
new Dictionary<object, int>(),
(map, obj) => {
// If this is the first time we've seen this obj, set the count to 0
if (!map.ContainsKey(obj)) map[obj] = 0;

// Increment the count
map[obj]++;

// Return the map for the next iteration.
// NOTE: This does NOT return from our "FromList" method
return map;
}
);
}

public static void Main() {
// Create our Histogram Map from a new list
var map = new HistogramMap().FromList(
new List<object>() { 'a', 'b', 'a', 'c', 'b', 'b' }
);

// This just prints the result
System.Console.WriteLine (
string.Join (", ",
// "Select" works like "map" or "collect" in many other languages
map.Select( kvp =>
string.Format("{0} : {1}", kvp.Key, kvp.Value)
).ToArray()
)
);
}
}
new[] {"a","b","a","c","b","b"}
.GroupBy(s => s)
.Select(s => new { Value = s.Key, Count = s.Count() })
.ToList()
.ForEach(e => Console.WriteLine("{0} : {1} ", e.Value, e.Count));
java
Map map = new HashMap();
for (Iterator it = list.iterator(); it.hasNext();) {
String s = (String) it.next();
if (!map.containsKey(s)) {
map.put(s, new Integer(1));
} else {
map.put(s, new Integer(((Integer)map.get(s)).intValue() + 1));
}
}
LinkedMap histogram = new LinkedMap();

for (Object letter : list)
histogram.put(letter, !histogram.containsKey(letter) ? 1 : MapUtils.getIntValue(histogram, letter) + 1);

Categorise a list

Given the list [one, two, three, four, five] produce a map {3:[one, two], 4:[four, five], 5:[three]} which sorts elements into map entries based on their length
python
c = defaultdict(list)
for k in ["one", "two", "four", "three", "five"]:
c[len(k)].append(k)
from itertools import groupby
lst = ["one", "two", "four", "three", "five"]
c = dict((k, list(g)) for k,g in
groupby(sorted(lst, key=lambda x: len(x)), key=lambda x: len(x)))
print(c)
csharp
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
public class ListCategorizer {
public static void Main() {
var list = new List<string>() { "one", "two", "three", "four", "five" };
var categories = list.GroupBy(el => el.Length)
.ToDictionary( g => g.Key, // key
g => g.ToList() ); // value
}
}
java
SortedMap<Integer, List<String> > map = new TreeMap<Integer, List<String> >(); int key; List<String> vlist;

for (String item : list)
{
key = item.length(); vlist = map.containsKey(key) ? map.get(key) : new ArrayList<String>();
vlist.add(item); map.put(key, vlist);
}
MultiValueMap map = new MultiValueMap();
for (Object item : list) map.put(((String) item).length(), item);