如何在VB.net中使用字典？

我编写了这个函数来自动将字符串数组中的不同值的性别更正为 M 或 F。它工作得很好，但我的经理告诉我使用字典，他说这更有效。但我不知道。有人愿意帮助我了解如何做到这一点吗？谢谢。

    Public Function AutoGender(ByVal dt As DataTable) As DataTable        

    Dim Gender As String = ""
    Dim Mkeywords() As String = {"boy", "boys", "male", "man", "m", "men", "guy"}
    Dim Fkeywords() As String = {"girl", "girls", "female", "woman", "f", "women", "chick"}
    Dim row As DataRow
        For Each row In dt.Rows
            If Mkeywords.Contains(row("Gender").ToString.ToLower) Then
                Gender = "M"
                row("Gender") = Gender
            ElseIf Fkeywords.Contains(row("Gender").ToString.ToLower) Then
                Gender = "F"
                row("Gender") = Gender
            End If
        Next
    Return dt

    End Function

这是一个如何实现的示例Dictionary(Of String, String)查找该同义词是否已知：

Shared GenderSynonyms As Dictionary(Of String, String) = New Dictionary(Of String, String) From
    {{"boy", "M"}, {"boys", "M"}, {"male", "M"}, {"man", "M"}, {"m", "M"}, {"men", "M"}, {"guy", "M"},
     {"girl", "F"}, {"girls", "F"}, {"female", "F"}, {"woman", "F"}, {"f", "F"}, {"women", "F"}, {"chick", "F"}}

Public Function AutoGender(ByVal dt As DataTable) As DataTable
    If dt.Columns.Contains("Gender") Then
        For Each row As DataRow In dt.Rows
            Dim oldGender = row.Field(Of String)("Gender").ToLower
            Dim newGender As String = String.Empty
            If GenderSynonyms.TryGetValue(oldGender, newGender) Then
                row.SetField("Gender", newGender)
            End If
        Next
    End If
    Return dt
End Function

请注意，我已经使用了集合初始值设定项 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd293617.aspx来填补字典 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/xfhwa508.aspx这是使用文字初始化集合的便捷方法。您还可以使用Add method http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/k7z0zy8k.

Edit：另一种可能更简洁的方法是使用两个HashSet(Of String) http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb359438.aspx，一个用于男性同义词，一个用于女性同义词：

Shared maleSynonyms As New HashSet(Of String) From
    {"boy", "boys", "male", "man", "m", "men", "guy"}
Shared femaleSynonyms As New HashSet(Of String) From
    {"girl", "girls", "female", "woman", "f", "women", "chick"}

Public Function AutoGender(ByVal dt As DataTable) As DataTable
    If dt.Columns.Contains("Gender") Then
        For Each row As DataRow In dt.Rows
            Dim oldGender = row.Field(Of String)("Gender").ToLower
            Dim newGender As String = String.Empty
            If maleSynonyms.Contains(oldGender) Then
                row.SetField("Gender", "M")
            ElseIf femaleSynonyms.Contains(oldGender) Then
                row.SetField("Gender", "F")
            End If
        Next
    End If
    Return dt
End Function

A HashSet也必须是唯一的，因此它不能包含重复的Strings（就像里面的钥匙一样Dictionary），但它不是一个键值对，而只是一个集合。