minientry

Minientry is a term encountered in information science and software design to describe an entry that contains only a minimal set of fields or metadata, smaller than a typical full record. The exact composition of a minientry depends on context, but it generally preserves essential identity information while omitting verbose attributes.

In practice, minientries appear in several domains. In database indexing and data structures, a minientry refers to a compact key-value pair used in compacted indexes or in-memory structures. In user interface design, a minientry can denote a compact list item that shows only the most important label and value, with other details hidden or loaded lazily.

Common characteristics include a reduced schema, optional or omitted fields, a compact serialized form, and suitability for streaming, batching, or memory-constrained environments. Minientries are often used as building blocks that are expanded on demand or enriched by a separate data source.

Applications include high-throughput indexing, log processing, lightweight registries, and compact UI lists where space or bandwidth is limited. They can enable faster transmission and lower memory usage at the cost of on-demand data retrieval for missing fields.

Challenges include maintaining consistency across related entries, managing field definitions across domains, and ensuring that the minimal form remains sufficiently descriptive for the intended operations.

See also: entry, microentry, compact representation, index entry.