It's not the only way, no. I'd say with a good hashing algorithm, a hash table is one of the best ways to do it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_table
There appears to be one in the code archives, but don't take that as a recommendation from me, as I no longer use B3D. It's by Octothorpe though, so it should be good.
http://www.blitzbasic.com/codearcs/codearcs.php?code=1439
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_table
There appears to be one in the code archives, but don't take that as a recommendation from me, as I no longer use B3D. It's by Octothorpe though, so it should be good.
http://www.blitzbasic.com/codearcs/codearcs.php?code=1439