Thread:Fngplg/@comment-9605025-20200312153227/@comment-27958705-20200312160705

Andrewds1021 Thread:1823995 At least that reason is better than "why not?" for a programmer, "why not?" includes future uses and changes: you have some data to return, you can use different types for the return value (plain obj or array) and you have to decide what type you will use. if you have suspicion that the return value will be changed (expanded, keys added, etc), then you will use most flexible type, that will allow to you to do more changes and leave consumers untouched simultaneously.

associative arrays, objects and other key-value based collections are no-brainers in most cases: if you can use friendly names, you will use them; named lists has so much pros, that even if you don't have particular reasons to use them, eventually, somebody will find a way to enjoy them.