Question

From a strictly implementation and computer science point of view how would you classify the Php array datastructure? Is it an associative array? a hash? a dictionary? … ?

Answer 1

From the PHP manual:

An array in PHP is actually an ordered map. A map is a type that associates values to keys. This type is optimized for several different uses; it can be treated as an array, list (vector), hash table (an implementation of a map), dictionary, collection, stack, queue, and probably more.