docs/source/user-guide/basics.md

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(user_guide_concepts)=

# Concepts

In this section, we will cover a basic example to introduce a few key concepts. We will use the
2021 Yellow Taxi Trip Records ([download](https://d37ci6vzurychx.cloudfront.net/trip-data/yellow_tripdata_2021-01.parquet)),
from the [TLC Trip Record Data](https://www.nyc.gov/site/tlc/about/tlc-trip-record-data.page).

```{code-cell} ipython3
from datafusion import SessionContext, col, lit, functions as f

ctx = SessionContext()

df = ctx.read_parquet("yellow_tripdata_2021-01.parquet")

df = df.select(
    "trip_distance",
    col("total_amount").alias("total"),
    (f.round(lit(100.0) * col("tip_amount") / col("total_amount"), lit(1))).alias("tip_percent"),
)

df.show()
```

## Session Context

The first statement group creates a {py:class}`~datafusion.context.SessionContext`.

```python
# create a context
ctx = datafusion.SessionContext()
```

A Session Context is the main interface for executing queries with DataFusion. It maintains the state
of the connection between a user and an instance of the DataFusion engine. Additionally it provides
the following functionality:

- Create a DataFrame from a data source.
- Register a data source as a table that can be referenced from a SQL query.
- Execute a SQL query

## DataFrame

The second statement group creates a {code}`DataFrame`,

```python
# Create a DataFrame from a file
df = ctx.read_parquet("yellow_tripdata_2021-01.parquet")
```

A DataFrame refers to a (logical) set of rows that share the same column names, similar to a [Pandas DataFrame](https://pandas.pydata.org/pandas-docs/stable/reference/api/pandas.DataFrame.html).
DataFrames are typically created by calling a method on {py:class}`~datafusion.context.SessionContext`, such as {code}`read_csv`, and can then be modified by
calling the transformation methods, such as {py:func}`~datafusion.dataframe.DataFrame.filter`, {py:func}`~datafusion.dataframe.DataFrame.select`, {py:func}`~datafusion.dataframe.DataFrame.aggregate`,
and {py:func}`~datafusion.dataframe.DataFrame.limit` to build up a query definition.

For more details on working with DataFrames, including visualization options and conversion to other formats, see {doc}`dataframe/index`.

## Expressions

The third statement uses {code}`Expressions` to build up a query definition. You can find
explanations for what the functions below do in the user documentation for
{py:func}`~datafusion.col`, {py:func}`~datafusion.lit`, {py:func}`~datafusion.functions.round`,
and {py:func}`~datafusion.expr.Expr.alias`.

```python
df = df.select(
    "trip_distance",
    col("total_amount").alias("total"),
    (f.round(lit(100.0) * col("tip_amount") / col("total_amount"), lit(1))).alias("tip_percent"),
)
```

Finally the {py:func}`~datafusion.dataframe.DataFrame.show` method converts the logical plan
represented by the DataFrame into a physical plan and execute it, collecting all results and
displaying them to the user. It is important to note that DataFusion performs lazy evaluation
of the DataFrame. Until you call a method such as {py:func}`~datafusion.dataframe.DataFrame.show`
or {py:func}`~datafusion.dataframe.DataFrame.collect`, DataFusion will not perform the query.