Identifierbart

Identifierbart is a term used in some technical discussions to describe a class of identifiers that strives to be both human-readable and globally unique. It is not an official standard but a hypothetical or colloquial concept used to explore ID design trade-offs in software systems and data interoperability.

Typical characteristics attributed to an identifierbart concept include a structured format that combines a descriptive body with a unique suffix, an optional checksum for error detection, and a constrained character set to facilitate reading and transcription. Common patterns in discussions include a prefix or namespace, followed by a hyphenated or colon-separated body and a numeric or alphanumeric suffix.

Applications cited in discussions include resource identifiers for APIs, content addressing in storage systems, and database keys where human readability helps debugging while maintaining uniqueness across domains. In practice, implementations vary and there is no universally adopted syntax or standard for identifierbart.

Relation to established concepts: it overlaps with ideas from slugs, URNs, GUIDs/UUIDs, and content-addressable identifiers but is distinguished by the stated emphasis on readability plus global uniqueness. Limitations include potential length growth, namespace management, and standardization challenges. Because it is not standardized, projects typically prototype a local convention rather than adopting an external specification.