Create physical scalar expression in `functions` modules from string (name)
- Dominant language
- Rust
- Stars
- 9.3k
- Forks
- 2.4k
- Avg merge
- 3d 7h
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 344
Description
### Is your feature request related to a problem or challenge?
#### Create physical scalar expression in functions modules from string
Currently more and more built-in scalar functions are moved to `functions` modules, e.g. https://github.com/apache/arrow-datafusion/pull/9435. It avoids using a long enum of all built-in scalar functions which is hard to maintain. But for Comet, we rely the ability to create a physical scalar expression from string (e.g., `datepart`).
Previously it is easy and just calls `BuiltinScalarFunction::from_str` to get `BuiltinScalarFunction`. But now I don't see such convenient function to do that.
`FunctionRegistry` provides `udf` which can return a reference to `ScalarUDF`. But it requires these UDFs must be registered. As we don't know what UDFs will be used, we need to register all built-in UDFs in the registry. The flaw is, it will create `ScalarUDF`s for all built-in UDFs even they are not actually used in the queries.
I think we still need an approach that can simply create a physical scalar expression in `functions` modules from string. So we can create corresponding `ScalarUDF` on demand.
Another approach might be to avoid creating `ScalarUDF`s when registering built-in scalar functions.
#### Avoid creating `ScalarUDF`s before they are actually used when registering in `FunctionRegistry`
Actually, I am also wondering if it is necessary to create and register all these `ScalaUDF`s in DataFusion's `FunctionRegistry` before these scalar UDFs are actually used.
For example, Spark's `FunctionRegistry` registers expression builders instead of creating actual expressions when registering built-in expressions. A built-in expression is created only if it is actually used by a query.
### Describe the solution you'd like
_No response_
### Describe alternatives you've considered
_No response_
### Additional context
_No response_
Contributor guide
Research direction
Start by tracing FunctionRegistry::udf and the built-in functions modules, then compare them with the previous BuiltinScalarFunction::from_str path. Determine how a name can produce a physical scalar expression or ScalarUDF on demand without registering every built-in function first. Done means the issue's string-based lookup and lazy-creation goal are resolved with appropriate coverage.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- rust
- Domain
- backend
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Needs clarification
- Newbie friendliness
- 25/100