docs/source/cpp/arrays.rst

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======
Arrays
======

.. seealso::
   :doc:`Array API reference <api/array>`

The central type in Arrow is the class :class:`arrow::Array`.   An array
represents a known-length sequence of values all having the same type.
Internally, those values are represented by one or several buffers, the
number and meaning of which depend on the array's data type, as documented
in :doc:`the Arrow data layout specification <../format/Layout>`.

Those buffers consist of the value data itself and an optional bitmap buffer
that indicates which array entries are null values.  The bitmap buffer
can be entirely omitted if the array is known to have zero null values.

There are concrete subclasses of :class:`arrow::Array` for each data type,
that help you access individual values of the array.

Building an array
=================

As Arrow objects are immutable, there are classes provided that help you
build these objects incrementally from third-party data.  These classes
are organized in a hierarchy around the :class:`arrow::ArrayBuilder` base class,
with concrete subclasses tailored for each particular data type.

For example, to build an array of ``int64_t`` elements, we can use the
:class:`arrow::Int64Builder` class. In the following example, we build an array
of the range 1 to 8 where the element that should hold the value 4 is nulled::

   arrow::Int64Builder builder;
   builder.Append(1);
   builder.Append(2);
   builder.Append(3);
   builder.AppendNull();
   builder.Append(5);
   builder.Append(6);
   builder.Append(7);
   builder.Append(8);

   std::shared_ptr<arrow::Array> array;
   arrow::Status st = builder.Finish(&array);
   if (!st.ok()) {
      // ... do something on array building failure
   }

The resulting Array (which can be casted to the concrete :class:`arrow::Int64Array`
subclass if you want to access its values) then consists of two
:class:`arrow::Buffer`\s.
The first buffer holds the null bitmap, which consists here of a single byte with
the bits ``1|1|1|1|0|1|1|1``. As we use  `least-significant bit (LSB) numbering`_.
this indicates that the fourth entry in the array is null. The second
buffer is simply an ``int64_t`` array containing all the above values.
As the fourth entry is null, the value at that position in the buffer is
undefined.

Here is how you could access the concrete array's contents::

   // Cast the Array to its actual type to access its data
   auto int64_array = std::static_pointer_cast<arrow::Int64Array>(array);

   // Get the pointer to the null bitmap.
   const uint8_t* null_bitmap = int64_array->null_bitmap_data();

   // Get the pointer to the actual data
   const int64_t* data = int64_array->raw_values();

   // Alternatively, given an array index, query its null bit and value directly
   int64_t index = 2;
   if (!int64_array->IsNull(index)) {
      int64_t value = int64_array->Value(index);
   }

.. note::
   :class:`arrow::Int64Array` (respectively :class:`arrow::Int64Builder`) is
   just a ``typedef``, provided for convenience, of ``arrow::NumericArray<Int64Type>``
   (respectively ``arrow::NumericBuilder<Int64Type>``).

.. _least-significant bit (LSB) numbering: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_numbering

Performance
-----------

While it is possible to build an array value-by-value as in the example above,
to attain highest performance it is recommended to use the bulk appending
methods (usually named ``AppendValues``) in the concrete :class:`arrow::ArrayBuilder`
subclasses.

If you know the number of elements in advance, it is also recommended to
presize the working area by calling the :func:`~arrow::ArrayBuilder::Resize`
or :func:`~arrow::ArrayBuilder::Reserve` methods.

Here is how one could rewrite the above example to take advantage of those
APIs::

   arrow::Int64Builder builder;
   // Make place for 8 values in total
   builder.Resize(8);
   // Bulk append the given values (with a null in 4th place as indicated by the
   // validity vector)
   std::vector<bool> validity = {true, true, true, false, true, true, true, true};
   std::vector<int64_t> values = {1, 2, 3, 0, 5, 6, 7, 8};
   builder.AppendValues(values, validity);

   std::shared_ptr<arrow::Array> array;
   arrow::Status st = builder.Finish(&array);

If you still must append values one by one, some concrete builder subclasses
have methods marked "Unsafe" that assume the working area has been correctly
presized, and offer higher performance in exchange::

   arrow::Int64Builder builder;
   // Make place for 8 values in total
   builder.Resize(8);
   builder.UnsafeAppend(1);
   builder.UnsafeAppend(2);
   builder.UnsafeAppend(3);
   builder.UnsafeAppendNull();
   builder.UnsafeAppend(5);
   builder.UnsafeAppend(6);
   builder.UnsafeAppend(7);
   builder.UnsafeAppend(8);

   std::shared_ptr<arrow::Array> array;
   arrow::Status st = builder.Finish(&array);


Size Limitations and Recommendations
====================================

Some array types are structurally limited to 32-bit sizes.  This is the case
for list arrays (which can hold up to 2^31 elements), string arrays and binary
arrays (which can hold up to 2GB of binary data), at least.  Some other array
types can hold up to 2^63 elements in the C++ implementation, but other Arrow
implementations can have a 32-bit size limitation for those array types as well.

For these reasons, it is recommended that huge data be chunked in subsets of
more reasonable size.

Chunked Arrays
==============

A :class:`arrow::ChunkedArray` is, like an array, a logical sequence of values;
but unlike a simple array, a chunked array does not require the entire sequence
to be physically contiguous in memory.  Also, the constituents of a chunked array
need not have the same size, but they must all have the same data type.

A chunked array is constructed by aggregating any number of arrays.  Here we'll
build a chunked array with the same logical values as in the example above,
but in two separate chunks::

   std::vector<std::shared_ptr<arrow::Array>> chunks;
   std::shared_ptr<arrow::Array> array;

   // Build first chunk
   arrow::Int64Builder builder;
   builder.Append(1);
   builder.Append(2);
   builder.Append(3);
   if (!builder.Finish(&array).ok()) {
      // ... do something on array building failure
   }
   chunks.push_back(std::move(array));

   // Build second chunk
   builder.Reset();
   builder.AppendNull();
   builder.Append(5);
   builder.Append(6);
   builder.Append(7);
   builder.Append(8);
   if (!builder.Finish(&array).ok()) {
      // ... do something on array building failure
   }
   chunks.push_back(std::move(array));

   auto chunked_array = std::make_shared<arrow::ChunkedArray>(std::move(chunks));

   assert(chunked_array->num_chunks() == 2);
   // Logical length in number of values
   assert(chunked_array->length() == 8);
   assert(chunked_array->null_count() == 1);

Slicing
=======

Like for physical memory buffers, it is possible to make zero-copy slices
of arrays and chunked arrays, to obtain an array or chunked array referring
to some logical subsequence of the data.  This is done by calling the
:func:`arrow::Array::Slice` and :func:`arrow::ChunkedArray::Slice` methods,
respectively.