4 Data Formats & 1 Truth

Sam Kleinman's discussion on data formats highlights the impact of storage subsystems on analytics performance, emphasizing the importance of understanding storage tools for optimal results. The text explores various data formats, starting with JSON and CSV, which are human-readable and widely supported but lack schema enforcement and efficiency for complex queries. BSON and Apache Avro offer improvements by encoding type information and reducing redundancy, though they still have limitations in terms of human readability and schema flexibility. Parquet and Lance introduce columnar storage, enhancing compression and read efficiency, with Lance offering additional indexing for advanced queries. Delta Lake, Iceberg, and Lance incorporate a storage protocol that uses Multi-Version Concurrency Control (MVCC) for safe data operations, though they require more space for storing multiple data versions. The choice of format depends on the specific needs of the workload, as each format offers unique advantages and trade-offs, emphasizing that the suitability of a technology is determined more by its application fit rather than its inherent characteristics.