Materialize Dictionaries in Group Keys
- Dominant language
- Rust
- Stars
- 9.3k
- Forks
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- Avg merge
- 3d 7h
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 344
Description
### Is your feature request related to a problem or challenge?
Currently grouping on a dictionary column will return dictionary-encoded group keys. Given that group keys inherently have few repeated values, especially when grouping on a single column, the use of dictionary encoding is unlikely to be yielding significant returns. Additionally following https://github.com/apache/arrow-datafusion/pull/7587 computing the dictionary is a non-trivial operation that could be eliminated
### Describe the solution you'd like
When grouping on a dictionary column, e.g. `Dictionary(DataType::Int32, DataType::Utf8)`, the returned schema should be the underlying value type, i.e. `DataType::Utf8`.
### Describe alternatives you've considered
_No response_
### Additional context
_No response_
Contributor guide
Research direction
Start by locating DataFusion's grouping implementation and tests for dictionary-encoded group keys; the issue does not name specific files or entry points. Confirm the current returned schema and identify the existing grouping behavior before changing it, then verify that grouping on Dictionary(Int32, Utf8) returns Utf8 keys without unnecessary dictionary materialization.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- rust
- Domain
- data-engineering
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Active
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 58/100