Why Performance Matters: Parquet, Delta Lake, Dynamic Filtering

The article highlights the importance of query performance in data processing, emphasizing its impact on customer satisfaction, energy and resource efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. It discusses recent advancements in Starburst's SQL engine, particularly in the Starburst Enterprise 360-e release, which include improvements to the Parquet Reader and the introduction of enhanced dynamic filtering techniques. These enhancements have led to significant performance boosts, with Parquet reader speed increasing by up to 30% and dynamic filtering offering up to 6-fold improvements in specific queries. Additionally, the Delta Lake format has benefited from new optimizations, such as the introduction of an ANALYZE command to gather crucial statistics like the number of distinct values, which enhances query planning and execution. The article underscores the continuous efforts to further optimize performance across the entire query engine stack, aiming to reduce infrastructure costs and time-to-insight for Starburst users.