A map is a datatype that stores “key value pairs”
A map can be looked at sorta like a dictionary (Actually I think this is even what they are called in python)
A map stores things in key, value pairs such as
Key: home
Value: the place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household.
This is a key, value pair that you would see in a real life dictionary with the “key” being the word home and the “value” being the definition of that word. You can easily find the definition of a word if you know the “key” or in this case the word. This provides us a very fast way of figuring out if something is in a list or not as we can quickly search for the key associated with that value and if that key is not found then the value is not in the list/map.
This key, value pair can be any variable/object that you like (except primitive I think) and what your key, value pair will be would depend on what you are writing for example a dictionary would have a String for the key and a String for the value but maybe a map of people to house numbers you might have String as the key (someones name) but an Integer as the value (their house number).