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https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/LUCENE-8878?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:all-tabpanel
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Tony Xu updated LUCENE-8878:
----------------------------
    Description: 
The `FieldComparator` has many responsibilities and users get all of them at 
once. At high level the main functionalities of `FieldComparator` are
 * Provide LeafFieldComparator
 * Allocate storage for requested number of hits
 * Read the values from DocValues/Custom source etc.
 * Compare two values

There are two major areas for improvement
 # The logic of reading values and storing them are coupled.
 # User need to specify the size in order to create a `FieldComparator` but 
sometimes the size is unknown upfront.
 # From `FieldComparator`'s API, one can't reason about thread-safety so it is 
not suitable for concurrent search.
 E.g. Can two concurrent thread use the same `FieldComparator` to call 
`getLeafComparator` for two different segments they are working on? In fact, 
almost all existing implementations of `FieldComparator` are not thread-safe.

The proposal is to enhance `SortField` with two APIs
 # {color:#14892c}int compare(Object v1, Object v2){color} – this is to compare 
two values from different docs for this field
 # {color:#14892c}ValueAccessor newValueAccessor(LeafReaderContext leaf){color} 
– This encapsulate the logic for obtaining the right implementation in order to 
read the field values.
 `ValueAccessor` should be accessed in a similar way as `DocValues` to provide 
the sort value for a document in an advance & read fashion.

With this API, hopefully we can reduce the memory usage when using 
`FieldComparator` because the users either store the sort values or at least 
the slot number besides the storage allocated by `FieldComparator` itself. 
Ideally, only once copy of the values should be stored.

The proposed API is also more friendly to concurrent search since it provides 
the `ValueAccessor` per leaf. Although same `ValueAccessor` can't be shared if 
there are more than one thread working on the same leaf, at least they can 
initialize their own `ValueAccessor`.

  was:
The `FieldComparator` has many responsibilities and users get all of them at 
once. At high level the main functionalities of `FieldComparator` are
* Manage LeafFieldComparator
* Allocate storage for requested number of hits
* Read the values from DocValues/Custom source etc.
* Compare two values 

There are two major areas for improvement
# 1. The logic of reading values and storing them are coupled.
# 2. From `FieldComparator`'s API, one can't reason about thread-safety so it 
is not suitable for concurrent search. 
E.g. Can two concurrent thread use the same `FieldComparator` to call 
`getLeafComparator` for two different segments they are working on? In fact, 
almost all existing implementations of `FieldComparator` are not thread-safe.


The proposal is to enhance `SortField` with two APIs
#1. int compare(Object v1, Object v2) -- this is to compare two values from 
different docs for this field
#2. ValueAccessor newValueAccessor(LeafReaderContext leaf) -- This encapsulate 
the logic for obtaining the right implementation in order to read the field 
values.
`ValueAccessor` should be accessed in a similar way as `DocValues` to provide 
the sort value for a document in an advance & read fashion.


With this API, hopefully we can reduce the memory usage when using 
`FieldComparator` because the users either store the sort values or at least 
the slot number besides the storage allocated by `FieldComparator` itself. 
Ideally, only once copy of the values should be stored.

The proposed API is also more friendly to concurrent search since it provides 
the `ValueAccessor` per leaf. Although same `ValueAccessor` can't be shared if 
there are more than one thread working on the same leaf, at least they can 
initialize their own `ValueAccessor`.


> Provide alternative sorting utility from SortField other than FieldComparator
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>                 Key: LUCENE-8878
>                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/LUCENE-8878
>             Project: Lucene - Core
>          Issue Type: Improvement
>          Components: core/search
>    Affects Versions: 8.1.1
>            Reporter: Tony Xu
>            Priority: Major
>
> The `FieldComparator` has many responsibilities and users get all of them at 
> once. At high level the main functionalities of `FieldComparator` are
>  * Provide LeafFieldComparator
>  * Allocate storage for requested number of hits
>  * Read the values from DocValues/Custom source etc.
>  * Compare two values
> There are two major areas for improvement
>  # The logic of reading values and storing them are coupled.
>  # User need to specify the size in order to create a `FieldComparator` but 
> sometimes the size is unknown upfront.
>  # From `FieldComparator`'s API, one can't reason about thread-safety so it 
> is not suitable for concurrent search.
>  E.g. Can two concurrent thread use the same `FieldComparator` to call 
> `getLeafComparator` for two different segments they are working on? In fact, 
> almost all existing implementations of `FieldComparator` are not thread-safe.
> The proposal is to enhance `SortField` with two APIs
>  # {color:#14892c}int compare(Object v1, Object v2){color} – this is to 
> compare two values from different docs for this field
>  # {color:#14892c}ValueAccessor newValueAccessor(LeafReaderContext 
> leaf){color} – This encapsulate the logic for obtaining the right 
> implementation in order to read the field values.
>  `ValueAccessor` should be accessed in a similar way as `DocValues` to 
> provide the sort value for a document in an advance & read fashion.
> With this API, hopefully we can reduce the memory usage when using 
> `FieldComparator` because the users either store the sort values or at least 
> the slot number besides the storage allocated by `FieldComparator` itself. 
> Ideally, only once copy of the values should be stored.
> The proposed API is also more friendly to concurrent search since it provides 
> the `ValueAccessor` per leaf. Although same `ValueAccessor` can't be shared 
> if there are more than one thread working on the same leaf, at least they can 
> initialize their own `ValueAccessor`.



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