Consider deprecate or remove some physical expr helper functions
- Dominant language
- Rust
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- 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
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