Indekslæsn

Indekslæsn is a Danish term used in information science and library science to describe index-based reading or data retrieval. It designates the practice of locating and accessing information primarily through an index, rather than by scanning through data sequentially. In practice, indekslæsn aligns with how modern databases, search engines, and metadata systems speed up queries by consulting pre-built indexes before touching the underlying records.

Etymology and scope: The word appears to be formed from indeks (index) and læs (read) with a suffix that marks a nominal process. While not widely standardized as a distinct concept in published Danish literature, indekslæsn is used in discussions of methods that rely on indexing to support rapid access to text, numbers, or metadata.

Mechanism and typical index types: An index provides mappings from search terms or attributes to data locations. The retrieval process generally involves probing the index to identify candidate records, then reading only the relevant data pages. Common index structures include inverted indexes for full-text search, B-tree or B+-tree indexes for database lookups, and hash-based indexes for exact-key retrieval.

Advantages and limitations: Index-based reading can significantly reduce input/output and latency for large datasets, especially for selective queries. Maintaining indexes incurs storage overhead and extra work during updates, inserts, and deletes, which can impact write performance. The effectiveness of indekslæsn depends on index design, data distribution, and query patterns.

See also: indexing, information retrieval, database index, inverted index, B-tree.