Hello again! This lesson's topic is Sorted Maps. Similar to other map structures, Sorted Maps store key-value pairs but in an ordered manner. Learning about Sorted Maps enriches our set of tools for organized and efficient data manipulation. Today's goal is to work with Sorted Maps using Kotlin's collection library.

In Kotlin, sorted maps can be seamlessly created and used, providing a convenient way to store key-value pairs while maintaining order automatically. Unlike unordered maps like HashMap, Kotlin provides the sortedMap feature, which by default arranges its keys in natural order (if they implement Comparable). Alternatively, a custom comparator can be used for specific sorting requirements.

Kotlin natively supports sorted maps through functions like sortedMapOf(), which construct a sorted map with entries placed in ascending order based on keys. This makes data manipulation efficient and organized, similar to a well-ordered library where items are systematically sorted.

To create a sorted map in Kotlin, you can use the sortedMapOf() function, which allows for easy initialization of key-value pairs. The keys should comply with comparability rules, either being comparable themselves or defined by a custom comparator. Here's an illustration: