Databricks Databricks-Certified-Professional-Data-Engineer Online Access

 This is the correct answer because Delta Lake uses a transaction log to store metadata about each table, including min and max statistics for each column in each data file. The Delta engine can use this information to quickly identify which files to load based on a filter condition, without scanning the entire table or the file footers. This is called data skipping and it can improve query performance significantly. Verified References: [Databricks Certified Data Engineer Professional], under “Delta Lake” section; [Databricks Documentation], under “Optimizations - Data Skipping” section.

In the Transaction log, Delta Lake captures statistics for each data file of the table. These statistics indicate per file:

- Total number of records

- Minimum value in each column of the first 32 columns of the table

- Maximum value in each column of the first 32 columns of the table

- Null value counts for in each column of the first 32 columns of the table

When a query with a selective filter is executed against the table, the query optimizer uses these statistics to generate the query result. it leverages them to identify data files that may contain records matching the conditional filter.

For the SELECT query in the question, The transaction log is scanned for min and max statistics for the price column

Partitioning a Delta Lake table is a strategy used to improve query performance by dividing the table into distinct segments based on the values of a specific column. This approach allows queries to scan only the relevant partitions, thereby reducing the amount of data read and enhancing performance.

Considerations for Choosing a Partition Column:

Cardinality: Columns with high cardinality (i.e., a large number of unique values) are generally poor choices for partitioning. High cardinality can lead to a large number of small partitions, which can degrade performance.

Query Patterns: The partition column should align with common query filters. If queries frequently filter data based on a particular column, partitioning by that column can be beneficial.

Partition Size: Each partition should ideally contain at least 1 GB of data. This ensures that partitions are neither too small (leading to too many partitions) nor too large (negating the benefits of partitioning).

Evaluation of Columns:

date:

Cardinality: Typically low, especially if data spans over days, months, or years.

Query Patterns: Many analytical queries filter data based on date ranges.

Partition Size: Likely to meet the 1 GB threshold per partition, depending on data volume.

user_id:

Cardinality: High, as each user has a unique ID.

Query Patterns: While some queries might filter by user_id, the high cardinality makes it unsuitable for partitioning.

Partition Size: Partitions could be too small, leading to inefficiencies.

post_id:

Cardinality: Extremely high, with each post having a unique ID.

Query Patterns: Unlikely to be used for filtering large datasets.

Partition Size: Each partition would be very small, resulting in a large number of partitions.

post_time:

Cardinality: High, especially if it includes exact timestamps.

Query Patterns: Queries might filter by time, but the high cardinality poses challenges.

Partition Size: Similar to user_id, partitions could be too small.

Conclusion:

Given the considerations, the date column is the most suitable candidate for partitioning. It has low cardinality, aligns with common query patterns, and is likely to result in appropriately sized partitions.

In Spark Structured Streaming, certain types of joins between a static DataFrame and a streaming DataFrame are not supported. Specifically, a right outer join where the static DataFrame is on the left side and the streaming DataFrame is on the right side is not valid. This is because Spark Structured Streaming cannot handle scenarios where it has to wait for new rows to arrive in the streaming DataFrame to match rows in the static DataFrame. The other join types listed (inner, left, and full outer joins) are supported in streaming-static DataFrame joins.

When triggering a job run using the Databricks CLI, the run_id field in the response represents a globally unique identifier for that particular run of the job. This run_id is distinct from the job_id. While the job_id identifies the job definition and is constant across all runs of that job, the run_id is unique to each execution and is used to track and query the status of that specific job run within the Databricks environment. This distinction allows users to manage and reference individual executions of a job directly.