westonpace commented on code in PR #41823:
URL: https://github.com/apache/arrow/pull/41823#discussion_r1614353916
##########
docs/source/format/CanonicalExtensions.rst:
##########
@@ -283,6 +283,59 @@ UUID
A specific UUID version is not required or guaranteed. This extension
represents
UUIDs as FixedSizeBinary(16) with big-endian notation and does not
interpret the bytes in any way.
+Other
+=====
+
+Other represents a type or array that one Arrow-based system received from an
+external (likely non-Arrow) system, but cannot interpret itself. In this
+case, the Other type explicitly communicates the name and presence of a field
+to downstream clients.
+
+For example:
+
+* A Flight SQL service may support connecting external databases. In this
+ case, its catalog (``GetTables`` etc.) should reflect the names and types of
+ tables in external databases. These tables may support types it does not
+ recognize. Instead of erroring or silently dropping columns from the
+ catalog, it can use the Other[NA] type to report that a column exists with a
Review Comment:
Does `NA` here mean the NULL type?
--
This is an automated message from the Apache Git Service.
To respond to the message, please log on to GitHub and use the
URL above to go to the specific comment.
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected]
For queries about this service, please contact Infrastructure at:
[email protected]
