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<section id="high-level-overview">
<h1>High-Level Overview<a class="headerlink" href="#high-level-overview" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h1>
<p>The Arrow C++ library is comprised of different parts, each of which serves
a specific purpose.</p>
<section id="the-physical-layer">
<h2>The physical layer<a class="headerlink" href="#the-physical-layer" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p><strong>Memory management</strong> abstractions provide a uniform API over memory that
may be allocated through various means, such as heap allocation, the memory
mapping of a file or a static memory area. In particular, the <strong>buffer</strong>
abstraction represents a contiguous area of physical data.</p>
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<section id="the-one-dimensional-layer">
<h2>The one-dimensional layer<a class="headerlink" href="#the-one-dimensional-layer" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p><strong>Data types</strong> govern the <em>logical</em> interpretation of <em>physical</em> data.
Many operations in Arrow are parameterized, at compile-time or at runtime,
by a data type.</p>
<p><strong>Arrays</strong> assemble one or several buffers with a data type, allowing to
view them as a logical contiguous sequence of values (possibly nested).</p>
<p><strong>Chunked arrays</strong> are a generalization of arrays, comprising several same-type
arrays into a longer logical sequence of values.</p>
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<section id="the-two-dimensional-layer">
<h2>The two-dimensional layer<a class="headerlink" href="#the-two-dimensional-layer" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p><strong>Schemas</strong> describe a logical collection of several pieces of data,
each with a distinct name and type, and optional metadata.</p>
<p><strong>Tables</strong> are collections of chunked array in accordance to a schema. They
are the most capable dataset-providing abstraction in Arrow.</p>
<p><strong>Record batches</strong> are collections of contiguous arrays, described
by a schema. They allow incremental construction or serialization of tables.</p>
</section>
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<h2>The compute layer<a class="headerlink" href="#the-compute-layer" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p><strong>Datums</strong> are flexible dataset references, able to hold for example an array or table
reference.</p>
<p><strong>Kernels</strong> are specialized computation functions running in a loop over a
given set of datums representing input and output parameters to the functions.</p>
<p><strong>Acero</strong> (pronounced [aˈsɜɹo] / ah-SERR-oh) is a streaming execution engine that allows
computation to be expressed as a graph of operators which can transform streams of data.</p>
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<h2>The IO layer<a class="headerlink" href="#the-io-layer" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p><strong>Streams</strong> allow untyped sequential or seekable access over external data
of various kinds (for example compressed or memory-mapped).</p>
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<section id="the-inter-process-communication-ipc-layer">
<h2>The Inter-Process Communication (IPC) layer<a class="headerlink" href="#the-inter-process-communication-ipc-layer" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>A <strong>messaging format</strong> allows interchange of Arrow data between processes, using
as few copies as possible.</p>
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<section id="the-file-formats-layer">
<h2>The file formats layer<a class="headerlink" href="#the-file-formats-layer" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>Reading and writing Arrow data from/to various file formats is possible, for
example <strong>Parquet</strong>, <strong>CSV</strong>, <strong>Orc</strong> or the Arrow-specific <strong>Feather</strong> format.</p>
</section>
<section id="the-devices-layer">
<h2>The devices layer<a class="headerlink" href="#the-devices-layer" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>Basic <strong>CUDA</strong> integration is provided, allowing to describe Arrow data backed
by GPU-allocated memory.</p>
</section>
<section id="the-filesystem-layer">
<h2>The filesystem layer<a class="headerlink" href="#the-filesystem-layer" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>A filesystem abstraction allows reading and writing data from different storage
backends, such as the local filesystem or a S3 bucket.</p>
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