apache / apache/arrow-java

[Java] Improve documentation in regards to basic-usage / memory-management

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Component: Documentation Type: enhancement
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Java
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Description

I'm experimenting with Arrow using Java, C+ and Python  IPC format (Bytestream, File) and Parquet: I am struggling alot on the Java-side, even after looking for external resources and some code-reading within the dev-repository .
 
Observing the state of the documentation, there seems to be a strong favour in regards to C++ and Python, which is not surprising. The Java part however, is hard to work with (at least for me; it might be possible that i'm the problem though). Sadly the Java interface is also the one, which is the most diverging from what people would usually do in Java.
 
Acknowledging the user-guide like documentation from [repo/java](https://github.com/apache/arrow/tree/master/java#getting-started) (-i don't think this is referenced in the docs and it might only be referenced by the java-part of the repository > looks "hidden" as the Java-link in the docs points to Javadoc-based content- -> known issue: ARROW-9364 ) and it's warnings about VectorSchemaRoot being special and temporary and also reading [this external article](https://www.infoq.com/articles/apache-arrow-java)
which also talks about manual memory-management i'm still struggling with a very simple use-case:
 
- create and fill VectorSchemaRoot
- write VectorSchemaRoot in IPC format to disk
- read VectorSchemaRoot from IPC format from disk
  - INTO some out of scope object not owned by the reader! 
 
I won't put example code here, but refer to my StackOverflow question showing the problem of mine: [StackOverflow](https://stackoverflow.com/q/62938237/2320035)
 
Something about memory-ownership is not working as expected for me.
 
No matter what tests (dev-repo) or article (e.g. the second link above) i read, their examples did not help me here as those all are **processing** the data read in **within the reader-scope** (mostly simple elementwise check), while i want to read into some **global** object which outlives the reader-object (see my code on SO or the second link: printing out read data works as long as the reader is open).
 
The article above also says:
 
```java

 A vector is managed by one allocator. We say that the allocator owns the buffer backing the vector. Vector ownership can be transferred from one allocator to another.
```
 
But how exactly would i populate an empty VectorSchemaRoot (of my class) with whatever i read in, surviving closing the reader? I experiment with VectorLoad and VectorUnload, including usage of the only call i found which has "ownership" in his docstring (batch.cloneWithTransfer), but no success. And even if working, the Java-based RecordBatch [link](https://arrow.apache.org/docs/java/) which would be the one using for this looks completely different then what Pythons does look like [link](https://arrow.apache.org/docs/python/generated/pyarrow.RecordBatch.htm)). 
 
Should i be able to see my problem given the documentation? Is there anything else to read? (I know that there must be in this regards within some Flight / Gandiva project-code, but i did not find it yet).
 
Or would it be completely wrong to keep VectorSchemaRoot as core-object to handle all my data? 
 
Feel free to close this issue if you think, that documentation is **not** incomplete.
 
Thanks,
Sascha

**Reporter**: [sascha schnug](https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/ARROW-9513)

**Note**: *This issue was originally created as [ARROW-9513](https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/ARROW-9513). Please see the [migration documentation](https://github.com/apache/arrow/issues/14542) for further details.*

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start with the Java getting-started documentation in repo/java and the referenced VectorSchemaRoot, VectorLoad, VectorUnload, and batch.cloneWithTransfer APIs. Compare their documented ownership and reader-lifetime behavior with the linked StackOverflow use case. Done means documenting a supported pattern for data that outlives the reader, or clearly stating the limitation and whether VectorSchemaRoot is appropriate as the core object.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
java
Domain
documentation
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
30/100

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