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Hash-encoded columns that are joined by a relationship should share a dictionary

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Kenneth Barber's profile image

Kenneth Barber on 22 May 2023 16:37:36

To save space in the Data Model, 2 columns should share a dictionary if and only if:

  • Both columns use hash encoding
  • Both columns are joined by a one-to-many relationship
  • All values in the column on the "many" side of the relationship can be found in the column on the "one" side of the relationship (i.e. no referential integrity violations)
  • The column on the "many" side of the relationship is not on the "many" side of any other one-to-many relationship


If any of these conditions is not met, then the columns should revert to not sharing a dictionary.


Currently, the closest that you can come to this is to create a relationship based on integer columns to minimize the size of the dictionary of the column on the "many" side of the relationship.