Das Problem mit German Strings
15 days ago
- #encoding
- #database
- #performance
- German strings (StringViews) are becoming the standard for string columns in database systems, offering performance benefits for many operations.
- StringViews have downsides, including higher memory usage for small or repeated strings, making them less ideal for all use cases.
- Polar Signals uses dictionary encoding for low-cardinality string columns, reducing memory usage by 75% compared to StringViews.
- The choice between StringViews and dictionary encoding should be based on workload characteristics and physical data properties.
- Future database systems should dynamically choose encodings based on query and storage characteristics, separating logical types from physical encodings.