What is the difference between the Map structure and other collections in programming languages?

In Java, the Map structure differs from other collections in that it stores key-value pairs rather than just a set of elements. Main features of Map:

• Keys are unique, but values can repeat.
• Allows quick retrieval of a value by its key.
• Does not inherit from Collection, but implements the Map interface.

Example of using HashMap:

import java.util.HashMap;

HashMap<String, Integer> map = new HashMap<>();
map.put("apple", 3);
map.put("banana", 5);

int count = map.get("apple"); // 3

Unlike List or Set, Map specifically stores associations between keys and values.