ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Minimal perfect hash function

Okay, kiddo, so let's talk about hash functions. You know how you have a special place to keep all your toys, like a toy box? Well, a hash function is like a fancy toy box for words or numbers.

A minimal perfect hash function is a special type of toy box that doesn't waste any space. Imagine you have a lot of toys, each with a different name. You want to put each toy in its own special space in your toy box, but you don't want to waste any extra space. A minimal perfect hash function does just that: it takes each toy's name and puts it in its own special spot in the toy box, without leaving any empty spaces.

This is really useful for computer programs that need to quickly look up information about lots of different things, like words in a dictionary or products in a store. The minimal perfect hash function makes it really fast and easy for the computer to find the information it needs without wasting any memory. Isn't that cool?