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    Supported languages

    Before getting started with your data transformation, it’s important to consider the benefits as well as the limitations of each language. This table includes a summary of the key differences between the supported languages:

    DescriptionSQLPythonJava
    Non-proprietary language: documentation available online✓✓✓
    Support for file access: read and write files in Foundry datasets—this means your data transformation can operate on unstructured data✓✓
    Transform Level Logic Versioning (TLLV): more info in the TLLV section✓✓
    Incremental computation: more info in the incremental computation section✓✓
    Support for removing inherited markings✓✓✓
    Multiple output datasets allowed per file✓✓
    Support for dataset previews✓✓✓
    Custom Transforms profiles✓✓✓

    SQL

    SQL is a language that has plenty of external documentation available online. Here are some key benefits of writing data transformations in SQL:

    • SQL is the most performant language (including most Spark optimization).
    • Transforms SQL gives you access to a SQL scratchpad that allows you to run sample SQL queries to check your SQL syntax.

    Learn more about SQL Transforms.

    Python

    Python is a language with plenty of external documentation available online. You may want to write data transformations in Python so that you can take advantage of the language-specific capabilities and libraries of Python. The Python API is lower-level than other languages like SQL. Here are some key benefits of using Python:

    • The transforms Python library is an API that exposes functionalities such as file reads and writes. File-based data transformations can be useful early on in data transformation pipelines when you want to parse and clean data.
    • There is first-class support for using external libraries such as pandas, NumPy, and other machine learning libraries.
    • You get access to the full Spark Python (PySpark) API, which includes additional features of Spark that aren’t supported in other languages.

    Learn more about Python Transforms.

    Java

    Java is a language with plenty of external documentation available online. You may want to write data transformations in Java so that you can take advantage of the language-specific capabilities in Java. Java is a lower-level API than other languages like SQL. Here are some key benefits of using Java:

    • The transforms Java library is an API that exposes functionalities such as file reads and writes. File-based data transformations can be useful early on in data transformation pipelines when you want to parse and clean data.

    Learn more about Java Transforms.