apache / apache/datafusion

Consider deprecate or remove some physical expr helper functions

Open
#16,917 0 comments 1 reaction 0 assignees View on GitHub
enhancement
Dominant language
Rust
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Avg merge
3d 7h
Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

### Is your feature request related to a problem or challenge?

I find some old helper functions are no longer needed or recommended for use.

For example, `physical_exprs_contains` only has one reference from `get_aggregate_expr_req` and may be replaced with an `IndexSet`. `physical_exprs_bag_equal` only has one reference from `InListExpr`.

https://github.com/apache/datafusion/blob/bb1b55cfba27a0b3090aa114ff7e05be1a039252/datafusion/physical-expr/src/physical_expr.rs#L54-L63

And `physical_exprs_equal` is not necessary to exist

https://github.com/apache/datafusion/blob/bb1b55cfba27a0b3090aa114ff7e05be1a039252/datafusion/physical-expr/src/physical_expr.rs#L65-L71

### Describe the solution you'd like

- Most of them are like substitutes before we have https://github.com/apache/datafusion/pull/13005, and are either not necessary or may indicate something can be improved at present.

Would like to raise this ticket as a discussion to remove or deprecate them.

### Describe alternatives you've considered

_No response_

### Additional context

_No response_

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Review the helper functions in datafusion/physical-expr/src/physical_expr.rs, especially physical_exprs_contains, physical_exprs_bag_equal, and physical_exprs_equal. Trace their mentioned uses in get_aggregate_expr_req and InListExpr, and consider the context of pull request 13005; done means reaching a decision on which helpers can be removed or deprecated.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
backend
Issue type
Refactor
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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