Difference between map and dict

Question

I might be confused between `hashmap` in Java, and `map`/`dict` in Python. I thought that the `hash` (k/v abstraction) of Java is kind of the same as `dict` in Python But then what does the `map` datatype do? Is it the same abstraction as the hashmap abstraction? If so, then how is it different from dictionary? I went through the docs, but it took me to whole together different paradigm: functional programming.

Accepted Answer

Map is not a datatype in python. It applies a function to a series of values and returns the result.

```
>>> def f(x):
...     return x**2
... 
>>> list(map(f, range(5)))
[0, 1, 4, 9, 16]
```

Often for a simple case like that to be "pythonic" we use list comprehensions.

```
>>> [x**2 for x in range(5)]
[0, 1, 4, 9, 16]
```

You are right in your comparison of hashmaps and dicts.

Difference between map and dict

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