Delta Lake
Delta Lake is an open-source storage layer that brings ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) transactions to Apache Spark and big data workloads. It provides data reliability features like schema enforcement, time travel, and scalable metadata handling on top of existing data lakes. It enables data lakes to function more like data warehouses while maintaining the flexibility and cost-effectiveness of object storage.
Developers should use Delta Lake when building data pipelines that require reliable, high-quality data with features like data versioning, rollback capabilities, and schema evolution. It is particularly valuable for scenarios involving streaming and batch data processing, machine learning workflows, and data lakehouse architectures where combining the scalability of data lakes with the reliability of data warehouses is essential.