rdblue commented on a change in pull request #2055:
URL: https://github.com/apache/iceberg/pull/2055#discussion_r555257207
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File path: site/docs/spec.md
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@@ -254,6 +254,24 @@ Notes:
2. The width, `W`, used to truncate decimal values is applied using the scale
of the decimal column to avoid additional (and potentially conflicting)
parameters.
+### Sorting
+
+Users could sort their data within partitions by columns to gain performance.
The information on how the data is sorted could be declared per data or delete
file, by a **sort order**.
+
+A sort order is defined by an sort order id and a list of sort fields. The
order of the sort fields within the list defines the order in which the sort is
applied to the data. Each sort field consists of:
+
+* A **source column id** from the table's schema
+* A **transform** that is used to produce values to be sorted on from the
source column. This is the same transform as described in [partition
transforms](#partition-transforms).
+* A **sort direction**, that can only be either `asc` or `desc`
+* A **null order** that describes the order of null values when sorted. Can
only be either `nulls-first` or `nulls-last`
+
+Order id `0` is reserved for the unsorted order.
+
+A data or delete file is associated with a sort order by the sort order's id
within [a manifest](#manifests). Therefore, the table must declare all the sort
orders for lookup. A table could also be configured with a default sort order
id, indicating how the new data should be sorted by default. This default could
be overridden per file basis if the file is sorted differently, such as if the
engine is incapable of ensure ordering of the data on write, the generated
files should be annotated with sort order id 0 (unsorted).
Review comment:
I think that it is a little unclear to say the "default could be
overridden per file" because that makes it sound as though the default applies
to files that do not have a sort order. The spec should specify in the
manifests section that if the order ID is not present or unknown, then the
order is assumed to be unsorted.
Here, I think you want to clarify what the default sort order is used for:
writers _should_ use the default order, but are not required to if the default
order is prohibitively expensive, as it would be for streaming writes.
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