Andre Sa de Mello created SPARK-26979:
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Summary: Some SQL functions do not take column names
Key: SPARK-26979
URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/SPARK-26979
Project: Spark
Issue Type: Improvement
Components: SQL
Affects Versions: 2.4.0
Reporter: Andre Sa de Mello
Most SQL functions defined in _org.apache.spark.sql.functions_ have two
variations, one taking a Column object as input, and another taking a string
representing a column name, which is then converted into a Column object
internally.
There are, however, a few notable exceptions:
* lower()
* upper()
* abs()
* bitwiseNOT()
While this doesn't break anything, as you can easily create a Column object
yourself prior to passing it to one of these functions, it has two undesirable
consequences:
# It is surprising - it breaks coder's expectations when they are first
starting with Spark. Every API should be as consistent as possible, so as to
make the learning curve smoother and to reduce causes for human error;
# It gets in the way of stylistic conventions. Most of the time it makes
Python/Scala/Java code more readable to use literal names, and the API provides
ample support for that, but these few exceptions prevent this pattern from
being universally applicable.
This is a very easy fix, and I see no reason not to apply it. I have a PR ready.
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