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Posted to commits@arrow.apache.org by GitBox <gi...@apache.org> on 2022/12/16 20:13:36 UTC

[GitHub] [arrow-site] lidavidm commented on a diff in pull request #288: [Website] WIP: Add nanoarrow blog post

lidavidm commented on code in PR #288:
URL: https://github.com/apache/arrow-site/pull/288#discussion_r1051121802


##########
_posts/2022-12-14-nanoarrow.md:
##########
@@ -0,0 +1,186 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: "Introducing nanoarrow"
+date: "2022-12-14 00:00:00"
+author: paleolimbot
+categories: [application]
+---
+<!--
+{% comment %}
+Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+The ASF licenses this file to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+(the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+{% endcomment %}
+-->
+
+The adoption of the
+[Arrow C Data Interface](https://arrow.apache.org/docs/format/CDataInterface.html)
+and the [Arrow C Stream Interface](https://arrow.apache.org/docs/format/CStreamInterface.html)
+since their
+[introduction](https://arrow.apache.org/blog/2020/05/03/introducing-arrow-c-data-interface/)
+have been impressive and enthusiastic: not only have Arrow language bindings
+adopted the standard to pass data among themselves, a growing number of
+high-profile libraries like
+[GDAL](https://gdal.org/development/rfc/rfc86_column_oriented_api.html) and
+[DuckDB](https://duckdb.org/2021/12/03/duck-arrow.html) use the standard to
+improve performance and provide an ABI-stable interface to tabular input and output.
+
+GDAL and DuckDB are fortunate to have hard-working and forward-thinking maintainers
+that were motivated to provide support for the Arrow C Data and Stream interfaces
+even though the code to do so required an intimate knowledge of both the interface
+and the columnar specification on which it is based.
+
+The vision of the [nanoarrow](https://github.com/apache/arrow-nanoarrow) project
+is that it should be trivial for a library or application to implement an Arrow-based
+interface: if a library consumes or produces tabular data, Arrow should be the
+first place developers look. Developers shouldn't have to be familiar with the
+details of the columnar specification---nor should they have to take on any
+build-time dependencies---to get started.
+
+The [Arrow Database Connectivity (ADBC)](https://arrow.apache.org/docs/format/ADBC.html)
+specification is a good example of such a project, and provided a strong
+motivator for the development of nanoarrow: at the heart of ADBC is the
+idea of a core "driver manager" and database-specific drivers that are distributed
+as independent C/C++/Python/R/Java/Go projects. At least in R and Python, the
+embedding an existing Arrow implementation (e.g., Arrow C++) is challenging
+in the context of multiple packages intended to be loaded into the same process.
+As of this writing, ADBC includes nanoarrow-based SQLite and PostgreSQL drivers
+and a nanoarrow-based validation suite for drivers.
+
+## Using nanoarrow in C
+
+The nanoarrow C library is distributed as
+[two files (nanoarrow.h and nanoarrow.c)](https://github.com/apache/arrow-nanoarrow/tree/main/dist)
+that can be copied and vendored into an existing code base. This results in
+a static library of about 50  KB and builds in less than a second. In addition to
+creating an array directly from buffers (for those familiar with the columnar
+specification), nanoarrow includes an
+[API for building arrays element-wise](https://apache.github.io/arrow-nanoarrow/dev/c.html#creating-arrays):
+
+```c
+#include "nanoarrow.h"
+
+int make_simple_array(struct ArrowArray* array_out, struct ArrowSchema* schema_out) {
+  struct ArrowError error;
+  array_out->release = NULL;
+  schema_out->release = NULL;
+
+  NANOARROW_RETURN_NOT_OK(ArrowArrayInit(array_out, NANOARROW_TYPE_INT32));
+
+  NANOARROW_RETURN_NOT_OK(ArrowArrayStartAppending(array_out));
+  NANOARROW_RETURN_NOT_OK(ArrowArrayAppendInt(array_out, 1));
+  NANOARROW_RETURN_NOT_OK(ArrowArrayAppendInt(array_out, 2));
+  NANOARROW_RETURN_NOT_OK(ArrowArrayAppendInt(array_out, 3));
+  NANOARROW_RETURN_NOT_OK(ArrowArrayFinishBuilding(array_out, &error));
+  
+  NANOARROW_RETURN_NOT_OK(ArrowSchemaInit(schema_out, NANOARROW_TYPE_INT32));
+
+  return NANOARROW_OK;
+}
+```
+
+Similarly, nanoarrow provides an
+[API to extract elements element-wise](https://apache.github.io/arrow-nanoarrow/dev/c.html#reading-arrays)
+from an existing array.
+
+```c
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include "nanoarrow.h"
+
+int print_simple_array(struct ArrowArray* array, struct ArrowSchema* schema) {
+  struct ArrowError error;
+  struct ArrowArrayView array_view;
+  NANOARROW_RETURN_NOT_OK(ArrowArrayViewInitFromSchema(&array_view, schema, &error));
+
+  if (array_view.storage_type != NANOARROW_TYPE_INT32) {
+    printf("Array has storage that is not int32\n");
+  }
+
+  int result = ArrowArrayViewSetArray(&array_view, array, &error);
+  if (result != NANOARROW_OK) {
+    ArrowArrayViewReset(&array_view);
+    return result;
+  }
+
+  for (int64_t i = 0; i < array->length; i++) {
+    printf("%d\n", (int)ArrowArrayViewGetIntUnsafe(&array_view, i));
+  }
+
+  ArrowArrayViewReset(&array_view);
+  return NANOARROW_OK;
+}
+```
+
+## Using nanoarrow in C++, R, and Python
+
+Recognizing that many projects for which nanoarrow may be useful will have
+access a higher-level runtime than C, there are experiments to provide
+these users with a minimal set of useful tools.
+
+For C++ projects, an experimental
+["nanoarrow.hpp"](https://apache.github.io/arrow-nanoarrow/dev/cpp.html)
+interface provides `unique_ptr`-like wrappers for nanoarrow C objects to
+reduce the verbosity of using the nanoarrow API. For example, the previous
+`print_simple_array()` implementation would collapse to:
+
+```cpp
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include "nanoarrow.hpp"
+
+int print_simple_array2(struct ArrowArray* array, struct ArrowSchema* schema) {
+  struct ArrowError error;
+  nanoarrow::UniqueArrayView array_view;
+  NANOARROW_RETURN_NOT_OK(ArrowArrayViewInitFromSchema(array_view.get(), schema, &error));
+  NANOARROW_RETURN_NOT_OK(ArrowArrayViewSetArray(array_view.get(), array, &error));
+  for (int64_t i = 0; i < array->length; i++) {
+    printf("%d\n", (int)ArrowArrayViewGetIntUnsafe(array_view.get(), i));
+  }
+  return NANOARROW_OK;
+}
+```
+
+For R packages, experimental
+[R bindings](https://apache.github.io/arrow-nanoarrow/dev/r/index.html) provide
+a limited set of conversions between R vectors and Arrow arrays such that
+R bindings for a library with an Arrow-based interface do not need to provide
+this behaviour themselves. Additional features include printing and validating
+the content of the C structures at the heart of the C Data and C Stream
+interfaces to facilitate the development of bindings to Arrow-based libraries.
+
+```r
+# install.packages("remotes")
+remotes::install_github("apache/arrow-nanoarrow/r", build = FALSE)
+library(nanoarrow)
+
+as_nanoarrow_array(1:5)
+#> <nanoarrow_array int32[5]>
+#>  $ length    : int 5
+#>  $ null_count: int 0
+#>  $ offset    : int 0
+#>  $ buffers   :List of 2
+#>   ..$ :<nanoarrow_buffer_validity[0 b] at 0x0>
+#>   ..$ :<nanoarrow_buffer_data_int32[20 b] at 0x135d13c28>
+#>  $ dictionary: NULL
+#>  $ children  : list()
+```
+
+A [Python package skeleton](https://github.com/apache/arrow-nanoarrow/tree/main/python)
+exists in the nanoarrow repository and further functionality may be added once
+the C library interface has stabilized.
+
+## Development roadmap
+
+The nanoarrow library is very new and everything about it is experimental
+and contingent on user feedback! An initial 0.1 release is planned for January 2023
+to facilitate this feedback.

Review Comment:
   Maybe a bit stronger of a call to action? Repeat the download link and link to the issue tracker?



##########
_posts/2022-12-14-nanoarrow.md:
##########
@@ -0,0 +1,186 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: "Introducing nanoarrow"
+date: "2022-12-14 00:00:00"
+author: paleolimbot
+categories: [application]
+---
+<!--
+{% comment %}
+Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+The ASF licenses this file to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+(the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+{% endcomment %}
+-->
+
+The adoption of the
+[Arrow C Data Interface](https://arrow.apache.org/docs/format/CDataInterface.html)
+and the [Arrow C Stream Interface](https://arrow.apache.org/docs/format/CStreamInterface.html)
+since their
+[introduction](https://arrow.apache.org/blog/2020/05/03/introducing-arrow-c-data-interface/)
+have been impressive and enthusiastic: not only have Arrow language bindings
+adopted the standard to pass data among themselves, a growing number of
+high-profile libraries like
+[GDAL](https://gdal.org/development/rfc/rfc86_column_oriented_api.html) and
+[DuckDB](https://duckdb.org/2021/12/03/duck-arrow.html) use the standard to
+improve performance and provide an ABI-stable interface to tabular input and output.
+
+GDAL and DuckDB are fortunate to have hard-working and forward-thinking maintainers
+that were motivated to provide support for the Arrow C Data and Stream interfaces
+even though the code to do so required an intimate knowledge of both the interface
+and the columnar specification on which it is based.
+
+The vision of the [nanoarrow](https://github.com/apache/arrow-nanoarrow) project
+is that it should be trivial for a library or application to implement an Arrow-based
+interface: if a library consumes or produces tabular data, Arrow should be the
+first place developers look. Developers shouldn't have to be familiar with the
+details of the columnar specification---nor should they have to take on any
+build-time dependencies---to get started.
+
+The [Arrow Database Connectivity (ADBC)](https://arrow.apache.org/docs/format/ADBC.html)
+specification is a good example of such a project, and provided a strong
+motivator for the development of nanoarrow: at the heart of ADBC is the
+idea of a core "driver manager" and database-specific drivers that are distributed
+as independent C/C++/Python/R/Java/Go projects. At least in R and Python, the
+embedding an existing Arrow implementation (e.g., Arrow C++) is challenging

Review Comment:
   ```suggestion
   as independent C/C++/Python/R/Java/Go projects. At least in R and Python,
   embedding an existing Arrow implementation (e.g., Arrow C++) is challenging
   ```



##########
_posts/2022-12-14-nanoarrow.md:
##########
@@ -0,0 +1,186 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: "Introducing nanoarrow"
+date: "2022-12-14 00:00:00"
+author: paleolimbot
+categories: [application]
+---
+<!--
+{% comment %}
+Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+The ASF licenses this file to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+(the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+{% endcomment %}
+-->
+
+The adoption of the
+[Arrow C Data Interface](https://arrow.apache.org/docs/format/CDataInterface.html)
+and the [Arrow C Stream Interface](https://arrow.apache.org/docs/format/CStreamInterface.html)
+since their
+[introduction](https://arrow.apache.org/blog/2020/05/03/introducing-arrow-c-data-interface/)
+have been impressive and enthusiastic: not only have Arrow language bindings
+adopted the standard to pass data among themselves, a growing number of
+high-profile libraries like
+[GDAL](https://gdal.org/development/rfc/rfc86_column_oriented_api.html) and
+[DuckDB](https://duckdb.org/2021/12/03/duck-arrow.html) use the standard to
+improve performance and provide an ABI-stable interface to tabular input and output.
+
+GDAL and DuckDB are fortunate to have hard-working and forward-thinking maintainers
+that were motivated to provide support for the Arrow C Data and Stream interfaces
+even though the code to do so required an intimate knowledge of both the interface
+and the columnar specification on which it is based.
+
+The vision of the [nanoarrow](https://github.com/apache/arrow-nanoarrow) project
+is that it should be trivial for a library or application to implement an Arrow-based
+interface: if a library consumes or produces tabular data, Arrow should be the
+first place developers look. Developers shouldn't have to be familiar with the
+details of the columnar specification---nor should they have to take on any
+build-time dependencies---to get started.

Review Comment:
   Maybe be a bit more concrete about what nanoarrow actually provides up front?



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